Barbara Zanelli

Selected pieces are available in high quality digital prints in any size up to 2x the original dimensions and can be sent anywhere in the world! Please contact the artist at barbarazanelli@gmail.com or call 267-975-6253 if you wish to order or make any other inquiries.

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News & Exhibitions

Intro to Drawing @ Fleisher

January 8, 2025 1:00 pm

Image Credit: Drawing by Dan Speirs, student

This class is recommended for anyone who took First Steps to Drawing or is coming to Fleisher with no previous instruction or experience.

You will learn step-by-step instructions on how to see in order to begin a drawing from life that contains both gesture and proportional accuracy. You will learn how this is accomplished. We will start by copying drawings and photographs, as well as drawing from life in order to learn the techniques for accuracy. Later, we will move into drawing animals and people from photographs, drawings and from life, always with an emphasis on intuition to put into practice the dictum, “draw first, measure second.” Drawing, first and foremost, is an intuitive practice we innately know how to do. Accuracy techniques are used in service to our intuitive nature.

Some of the concepts you will learn about are: gridding, simplifying into shapes, negative space and basic perspective. In each class you will build your skills progressively by both copying and drawing from life. You will learn to see in a whole new way!

What you will learn:
1. Scaffolded approach to translating 3D to 2D
2. How to perceive edges and draw them
3. Drawing natural and manmade things
4. How to focus while drawing

Concepts covered include line, proportion, composition, basic anatomy, basic perspective.


Time: Wednesday 1 – 4pm
Dates: Jan 8– March 12 (10 sessions)
Location: Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA 19147

Link to Event

Drawing Faces @ Fleisher (JumpstART One Day Workshop)

January 9, 2025 7:00 pm


JumpstART – Drawing Faces
Interested in drawing and painting portraits? This workshop is a perfect place to explore the first steps to drawing faces. Learn about the proportion of the human head, facial features, and expression while practicing drawing from observation. Through quick and fun exercises drawing from a live model, you’ll have plenty of chances to strengthen your perceptual muscles and improve your drawing skills.
Fleisher’s JumpstART Workshops are single-session workshops that provide an introduction to our rich offerings and specialized studios. Led by our renowned teaching artists, the workshops are a welcoming and fun way to engage with art and share the experience with family and friends. You will walk away with a new understanding of a creative medium and an original artwork! All supplies are included.
Type: JumpstART Workshop
Days: Thursday
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Duration: Thursday, January 9 (one day)
Instructor: Barbara Zanelli
Medium: Drawing
Level: All levels welcome, recommended for beginners.

Required Supplies
• Please bring a notepad and something to write with
• All supplies are included with enrollment

Link to Event

Drawing With Confidence

January 8, 2025 6:00 pm

Program Description
Designed for students who took Intro to Drawing or already have a grasp of basic drawing techniques, this course takes you further into form, shading, structure, and expression while keeping at your pace.

Students will hone their skills in class through short lectures, demos, individual help and copying and drawing from life, as well as homework assignments each week. Some of the subjects we’ll draw are: buildings, landscapes, trees, animals, portraits and figures. You will learn about and try different techniques for detailed rendering, quick sketching, perspective and composition.

Explore life model drawing on the last two days of class.

What you will learn:
1. Make detailed rendered value drawings
2. Explore different shading techniques
3. Gain more understanding of the structure of the human and animal head and body through studying basic anatomy
4. Begin to develop an understanding of decisive, quick sketching
5. Confidence and comfort with the materials

Main Concepts covered: shading techniques, structural drawing, composition

Time: Wednesdays 6 – 9pm
Dates: January 8 – March 12 (10 sessions)
Location: Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA

Link to Event

Fall Into Color

September 28, 2024 10:00 am

Fall: Color Study

One of the biggest joys of oil paint is the vibrancy of color. Fall in love with color and oil painting all over again in this course where you will sharpen your observation skills, and also relax and enjoy the process of learning to see color as an oil painter.
We will be doing exercises called color studies as taught by Henry Henshe in the early 1900’s. These block studies are amazing for developing your ability to see value and color and mix it.
No matter what we choose to paint, we are always learning about the paint itself as we use it, and this, I believe, is the fun part! Come and join us in a relaxing and supportive professional studio environment in the company of others who love to paint!

Time: Saturdays 10am – 1pm
Dates: Sept 28 - Nov 23 (no class Oct 19) (8 classes)
Location: Repenning Fine Arts, 35 Kings Highway, Audubon, NJ
Beginner - Advanced

Link to Event

Sketch N Paint

October 8, 2024 10:00 am

This ongoing workshop is for anyone who wants to have FUN drawing, sketching, and painting. We will explore line, shape and shading with various mediums. Project: Week 1 - You will trace a delightful drawing of a camper trailer conceived by artist Nil Rocha in pencil, transfer it to watercolor paper and then draw the outlines in pen and ink and color it in with watercolor. A sample of this painting is on display in the lobby along with student’s artwork from previous classes. Each week there will be a different guided project that you will complete unless you have your own independent project idea. Art supplies are provided.

Time: Tuesdays 10am – 12pm
Dates: October 8 - Nov 26
Location: Journey’s Way, 403 Rector St, Philadelphia PA 19128

For More Information Call: 215-487-1750 ext. 1101

Link to Event

"The Continuum of Western Painting"

Click on Fall-Spring 2017, download, and go to page 13. Enjoy!

An article I wrote for the Villa Rossa Voice, Syracuse University's newsletter in Florence. Read about how my experience studying art history and painting in Florence, Italy in 1998 changed my life.

Click on Fall-Spring 2017, download, and go to page 13. Enjoy!

Link to Event

Harvest Gold

September 18, 2021 12:00 am

When I moved to East Falls in 2021, I fell in love with Osmond Street, a charming one block long street around the corner from my apartment. So, I did a little drawing of it with me in it to elicit the feelings I felt at that time. Little did I know it would be picked up by The Local, an East Falls newspaper to be their cover illustration! I also didn't yet know that I would soon be attending salons with new friends and neighbors on that street. The inhabitants of Osmond Street are what makes in special ~ everyone from the people to the trees to the flowers and the stones! Three years later, I am now established as an "honorary member" of the Osmond Street gang ;D

Link to Event