Diego Lopez

I spent fifteen years painting scenery for regional theaters, including a few long seasons in the shop that built sets for shows at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. You learn fast in that job that a painting only has to look right from where the audience sits. I bring that same attitude to my lessons. Nobody is getting graded.

My students usually start with watercolor because it cleans up easily and fits on a dining table. We work from things around the house, a bowl of lemons, the view off your porch, an old vacation photo. I teach a handful of brush moves first and we repeat them until your hand stops worrying. If arthritis makes a thin brush hard to hold, I bring foam grips and wider brushes that do just as nice a job.

I grew up in West Orange and still live a few blocks from where I went to grade school. My daughter calls my car a rolling art closet, which is fair.