Manuela Karin Knaut | Be Wild for a While!

Workshop: Be Wild for a While!

Dates: September 17-20, 2026

Instructor: Manuela Karin Knaut

Days: 4

Level: All

Tuition: $1750

Included: Complimentary lunch provided in studio daily

This four-day workshop is a celebration of freedom in painting — an open space to experiment, take risks, and rediscover the joy of creation. Participants are invited to explore abstract painting through movement, intuition, and curiosity, using color, gesture, and texture as starting points for new discoveries. We will question familiar routines, embrace coincidence, and follow the unexpected paths that materials and process reveal. Each participant will work toward developing a personal visual rhythm and direction — ideally leaving the workshop with a selection of exhibition-ready works and a renewed sense of confidence, inspiration, and creative energy.

The studio will become a space of openness and exchange rather than demonstration — a protected environment that encourages authentic experimentation and dialogue. This workshop is particularly suited for those wishing to reconnect with painting after a break or to refresh and expand their creative practice.

Through intuitive exercises and playful yet focused experimentation, we will move between control and freedom, structure and openness — exploring what happens when intuition and material take the lead. It’s about stepping into a space of new artistic possibilities, discovering fresh perspectives, and gaining trust in your own visual language.

Focus Areas

• Reconnecting with creative energy and intuitive confidence

• Breaking old patterns and exploring new materials and techniques

• Layering, mark-making, and expressive composition

• Combining painting, collage, and experimental mixed-media practices

• Finding strength, inspiration, and momentum through exchange and community

Who This Workshop is For

This workshop is ideal for artists who want to reignite their creative spark, create substantial new work,

and gain strong, lasting impulses for their artistic journey — all within a supportive, playful, and inspiring

atmosphere. Open to all — from artists returning to painting after a break to those wishing to expand and refresh

their creative language.

Materials List

This list is a guideline — feel free to adapt it and bring your own favorite tools and materials. The workshop is about freedom, exploration, and process, so curiosity is key!

Painting Surfaces

• A variety of papers in different sizes (small and large formats)

• Found papers and collage materials (maps, book pages, envelopes, wrapping paper, photographs, etc.)

• Unstretched canvas on a roll — this is essential! We’ll work freely on large, flexible surfaces that can be laid on the floor or hung for expressive painting.

• Stretched canvases (optional, for finished works)

• Smaller stretched canvases (around 20 × 20 cm or 30 × 30 cm) — bring several of these to help develop rhythm, quick decisions, and serial thinking in your painting process.

• A set of equal-sized frames for working in series — for example, six frames of 100 × 100 cm (40 × 40 in) or 80 × 80 cm (32 × 32 in) to explore variation and continuity.

• Optional: cardboard, textiles, or other found materials for experimentation.

Paints and Mediums

• High-quality acrylic paints in a wide range of colors

• A large amount of white acrylic paint (we’ll use this generously)

• Ink (India ink, drawing ink, or acrylic ink)

• Pigments (optional, for texture and depth)

• Wallpaper paste or acrylic medium for collage and transfers

Tools and Mark-Making Materials

• Brushes in various sizes and shapes

• Medium sized bucket

• Paint rollers (large and small)

• Scissors

• Sponges, rags, and cloths for texturing and wiping

• Oil pastels, soft pastels, charcoal, and soft graphite pencils

• Markers (different widths and colors)

• Masking tape (one or two rolls)

• Hair spray (for fixing pastel or charcoal drawings)

Additional Materials

• Scissors, glue stick, and/or matte medium for collage

• Sketchbook (A4 or larger) to collect notes, sketches, and ideas throughout the week

• Apron or robust clothing — expect to get messy!

• Any personal or unusual materials