The Society of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN) will host Kelli Folsom demonstrating still life in oil on Wednesday, August 26, at 1:30 pm, at Newtown Senior Center, 8 Simpson Street.

The demonstration is open to the public and admission is free.

Folsom is an academically trained artist working exclusively from life in oils. She creates museum-quality paintings combining an old master feel with rich color and painterly brushstrokes.

An award-winning artist, Folsom is a member of Oil Painters of America, American Women Artists, American Impressionists Society, and Women Artists of the West.

She earned her BFA from Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, the first impressionist colony in the US, established in 1899. It was there that she studied traditional life drawing, painting, and sculpture with great emphasis on in-depth study and classical techniques and the joy of working in a direct impressionist style in nature.

Every still life arrangement is set up in her north light studio and painted directly from life in a matter of one or two sittings. She paints directly so that her relationship to the subject is heightened in the moment, passing on that perception and experience to the viewer, resulting in paintings that look like paintings and not photographs.

Folsom chooses objects and arrangements to create the most aesthetically beautiful design and a feeling of abundance and intimacy. These arrangements are influenced by centuries of traditional still life painting, from the Dutch Masters of the 1600s to the French Academics of the 1900s.

Reservations are not required for SCAN programs, but additional information may be available at SCANart.org.