Classes, Workshops and Italy

Things come up so quickly.....

.....I'm lucky to make it to stuff it myself.....but I wanted to give a heads up on several events:

Painting to Your Next Level, Session 2, begins February 24th.  Class begins at 9:30 and runs until mid afternoon.  I leave at 1:30 but the studio is open for everyone in the class until 4:30.  Open to Oil, Gouache, Acrylic, Pastel....did I miss any?....and to all comers.

Portrait Intensive, March 6th, 7th and 8th.  Friday will be a demo and talk from 6:30 to 8:30.  I do this so participants will get full days worth of painting on Saturday and Sunday, which will run from 9:30 to 4:30.  Open to all media including good old paper and pencil.

Marker Workshop, March 21st, 9:30 to 4:00.  This is a fun course in how to use valued markers to quickly make sketches and studies.  Painless art instruction!  Beginners very welcome.  If you need supplies I can supply them at cost.

Italy Extravaganza.  Any time I go to Europe it's an extravaganza.....but in this case we will be drawing and painting the Italian landscape, cityscape, people or anything else that happens to get in our path.  The details are currently being hammered together for somewhere around the second week in October, 2015.   Pencil it in!

Information about all these classes, workshops or extravaganzas can be found by going to the website of the Winslow Art Center HERE.

Hope to see you in one of them, at least.

Rockport Red, 12x14

 

Rockport Harbor.

There must be at least two boats in Maine for everyone that lives there.  They are all over the place, in all kinds of shapes, colors and purposes....and with all sorts of personalities.  They would make a good Pixar movie.

It's hard to pass up painting a red one sitting against the intense blues of a Fall sky reflected in the water.....all those color possibilities....all those excuses to push and pull the hues and find color vibrancy and pattern.  Working boats are a pleasure just to watch bob around in the water.

My classes begin later this month at the Winslow Art Center.  While I frequently revamp what I teach, this year it is a total makeover and I'm going to try to move into areas of instruction I haven't tried before, but I think will help those in the course move more quickly into their own expression and style.  It will be pretty much all day on Tuesdays for seven weeks and will be four (yes, four) hours of instruction followed by open studio.  Come if you can.  We always have a good time.

Find out more about it HERE.  Scroll down until you find "Painting To Your Next Level" and read all about it. 

Relaxed, 12x16

I love watercolor....and I greatly respect anyone who can do it well....which I don't think I do.  It takes more patience and thoughtfulness than I possess.  I think it's my ADD.

This portrait was an accident from a few years ago but I've always kind of liked it.  It was one of those 20 or 25 minute gesture pieces that pretty much painted itself.  Actually I was off getting coffee when my brush started in.  By the time I got back there wasn't much for me to do....luckily.  Think I lost that brush somewhere....

'Everyone Can Draw.  Yes, Even You' is the title of the drawing course I begin teaching at the end of the month.  This is learning to draw without the pain.  My courses are all 'no fail' courses.  Just having the courage and interest to show up makes you a success.  Find out more about this class and others at the Winslow Art Center site.

Spring Snowballs, 14x18

Flowers can be so fleeting that several Springs can go by before I get around to painting certain ones.  It has taken a few years to get around to painting snowballs again.  My friend Debbie showed up and took some progress shots....thanks, D.  I'm sharing them below so you can see the steps.

In this painting I drew a little first.  Another demo, but one in which I didn't draw, I posted  HERE.

A few things to note:  When the flowers are drawn in they have square edges that reflect the planes of their shapes.  I then put a single dot where the center of the flower is which immediately establishes which direction they are pointing.

Another is, that since this was a fairly close valued painting, the first note of paint was the value and color of the sky.  From this I could judge what the rest of the values should be to describe the flowers but still keep them in light spring colors.

The photo of the source doesn't accurately reflect values or color....and there is no sky.  The day was cloudy and very cool. 

By the way, I have a plein air workshop coming up in July at the Winslow Art Center. 

The Painting Crew

Two 'beginning' painters with their last pieces.  Beginning is in quotes because the work in this class was past what I would expect from new painters.

 

  

And a few painters from the intermediate class.  I had a great time teaching these two groups and their attentiveness was humbling.  While skills and experience varied, their desire to know more about the process was consistently high.....and we all know that desire and talent are the same thing.  (Thanks, Ron.)

More tomorrow.  I'm back after a busy six weeks.