SARANAC LAKE — Painter George Van Hook, two-time winner of the Adirondack Plein Air Festival, is leading a free painting workshop and artist talk this month.

Saranac Lake ArtWorks has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the New York state Council on the Arts to fund a series of visiting artist presentations, including Van Hook’s.

The free painting workshop is scheduled for Saturday, June 17, followed by the artist talk on Sunday, June 18. Those interested in attending are encouraged to register in advance for the workshop by contacting ArtWorks at info@saranaclakeartworks.org or 518-832-0081. Some painting experience is required and participants will need to bring their own painting supplies and surfaces.

The free artist talk on June 18 will be at 1 p.m. in the auditorium of the Paul Smith’s College VIC.

Van Hook is a nationally known painter from Cambridge, New York. He was born and raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia and began painting very early, participating in the vibrant artistic culture of the region. His early 12 year tenure in northern coastal California afforded year-round plein air painting.

Van Hook thinks of his paintings as primarily a visual response to the selected environment, be it landscape, figure or still life.

“I want the color to be beautiful and the drawing firm and secure,” he said. The paintings are a marriage of external and internal forces — what emerges on the canvas should be a reflection of both the beauty of the world and the artist’s most inner response.”