Artist Robert Johnson believes a fundamental tool in creating powerful paintings is seeing things with a freshness, honesty and clarity.

To emphasize this technique, Johnson will offer demonstrations and individual instruction in the oil painting workshops on still life and florals. The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 27-30 at Quinlan Visual Arts Center, 514 Green St. NW, Gainesville. Cost is $650 for all skill levels.

Johnson will focus part of class on exploring time tested principles of painting. Careful observation and control of values, color and edges will be taught as a means of achieving realistic honesty in a painting while preserving the magical and mysterious quality present in great works of art. The beauty and expressive power of the paint itself will be emphasized. The individual brush stroke will be stressed as a means to depict form, achieve expressive power, and maintain a painting’s freshness.

For a supply list, visit www.quinlanartscenter.org. For more information, call 770-536-2575.