Unraveling the Code of Trees & Dynamic Symmetry

Join us for this one OR two-day workshop with master painter Albert Handell and his student of many years, mathematician and artist, Karen Halbert.   Explore painting nature in pastels (oil accepted) with Albert on day 1, then transition into day 2 with Karen combining the concepts of left and right brain creativity through the exploration of intuitive composition and dynamic symmetry.

One Day only:

A Right-Brain Approach to Painting with Albert Handell

Saturday, August 23, 2025

9 to 4:30 p.m

One Day only:

Left-Brain Approach to Composition with Karen Halbert

Sunday, August 24, 2025

9 to 4:30 p.m

Take both days for a 15% discount!

Unraveling the Code of Trees & Dynamic Symmetry

Saturday & Sunday, Aug. 23 & 24, 2025

9 - 4:30 p.m.

What’s Included

A complimentary continental breakfast will be served each morning including bagels, pastries, cereal, fruit, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs and hot coffee or tea.

  • Optional:  Catered lunches for $20 each day.

    Both days hot buffet lunches wil be catered into the studio by Cowgirls of Santa Fe. This is optional as you can bring your own. Cost is $20.00 per person

Intuitive Composition of Tress

Day 1: Albert will lead “How to use Intuitive Composition for Painting Trees” pastel workshop (oil and other mediums accepted as well) working from photographs.  Albert will demo in pastel with a watercolor underpainting.  Albert will be demonstrating a step-by-step painting of his famous trees from 9 a.m. with student painting time from 1 to 4:00 pm.  Students will have time to work on their paintings with plenty of individual help at each easel.  Students will have an afternoon painting time from 1 to 4:30 pm with plenty of individual help at each easel from Santa Fe’s own legendary artist.

Supplies: Bring all the supplies you usually use. Bring a plein air easel. If you are flying in we have a few to choose from.

Fibonacci and Trees!

Day 2: Karen will be showing the students Albert’s paintings and applying symmetry grids over Albert’s work for an in-depth analysis of the merger of Intuitive Composition and the concept of Dynamic Symmetry.  Karen will explain how tree growth is based on the Fibonacci series and the theory of proportions and spirals!  It’s going to be a fascinating application of composition as applied to plants and you will never see a tree again in the same way! Karen will also offer a step-by-step demonstration where students will follow along with various projects to bring this new information to life.  Her workshop will be both lecture format with hands-on grid building time for each student.  New material will be presented different from past years with Karen and all new examples will be shown.   

About Albert

Albert Handell was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1937. At an early age, a favorite activity of his was drawing with chalks on the city streets. He began formal studies of drawing and anatomy at the age of sixteen. In 1954, he enrolled at the Art Students League of New York City to study drawing and anatomy with the late Louis Princilla and the Late Robert Ward Johnson, and later studied painting for two years with Frank Mason. From 1961 to 1965, Mr. Handell lived and traveled in Europe. In Paris, he painted independently in his own studio, working from the model at L'Ecole de La Grande Chaumiere and at the Louvre, copying the old masters.

Visit Albert’s Website

About Karen

Karen Halbert, former college professor of Mathematics and current Landscape Painter, will present the armature systems from an artist's point of view, using examples from art history. Her background in Mathematics gives her a unique perspective though, shall we say following in the footsteps of artist-mathematicians such as Piero della Francesco and Leonardo da Vinci. In this workshop, you will get a glimpse of how a Mathematician perceives the underlying framework of paintings. However, as an experienced professor of introductory college mathematics, Halbert is able to explain the underlying Mathematics in simple, straightforward terms if necessary or desired. However, the main goal of the workshop is for the participants to construct armatures and apply them to their own paintings.

Visit Karen’s Website | Visit Karen’s Blog