Life is a Cabaret

 

"Life is a Cabaret"

13" x 18" Watercolor

 

After my David Lobenberg workshop, I was fired up on portraits and had a fun picture of my granddaughter on her prom night. The theme was a gambling casino, but all I could think of was Liza Minelli in Cabaret. I dutifully did my small study in Payne's Grey. It was even less a good likeness than my final product, but it gave me a feel for values, the whole point of the study.



 

My black and white study

 

Here you can see  that Kelly is much more beautiful and wholesomely youthful than I painted her. However, I take comfort in David's comment that he doesn't worry about an exact likeness; he is going for a good painting. I will, no doubt, make a few more adjustments.

 

The model

 

I did the background last and I puzzled over it for quite some time. Suddenly, this one popped into my head as representational of cabaret and celebrations, and I like it. I used tape to mask off places where I would paint in the confetti. Once I had the dark values in the background, I had to rework the shadows and the hat to get appropriate values.

 

I've been wanting to paint a piece for our annual show coming right up. I am off soon on a major trip, so had little time. I have decided to enter this piece.

 



The Scotsman

 

"The Scotsman"

15" x 16.5" Watercolor

 

 

Just finished the portrait of Bob in his Balmoral hat that goes with his Anderson Clan kilt. Oh yes, I did leave the undershirt, which I am sure early in the morning Bob was not thinking would actually be in the portrait. Somehow the juxtaposition fits his fun personality.

 

 

My early morning photo of Bob

 

I cropped the photo and David Lobenberg, our instructor, really like the shot and the lighting. As we we were taught, I made a Paynes Grey study of the photo. I was rather pleased with the results. The only thing David had to do was help me recapture some of the white fringe of his beard. He did that with a white conte crayon, a wonderful suggestion that I will no doubt use in the future.

 



 

The study

Now it was time to tackle the painting in color. I failed to photograph the important stages, I was so into painting. First I did the "tea" stage, lightly carving out the features in very watery color. I used an orange mixed from Cad Yellow and Permanent Rose, the Rose, some Ultramarine Blue. and Alizarin Crimson, some straight, some mixed. Next I went in with thicker consistencies until I reached a point where I thought I was done. David suggested a light green/yellow as the background, the compliment of the reds. I was overly cautious and the result is a little washed out. Still I was thinking, not bad.

 

Almost done, though not really

 

I had set the painting on my easel and opened my eyes Saturday morning to go, heck no, I'm not so pleased. The colors looked washed out and I had homogenized some of it too much. I didn't have time to work on the piece, though. So finally, Sunday afternoon I hit the paints again. Let's darken that background and get a little more color into the hat. Though the pom pom is bright red, I felt that it would catch the eye too much. Better, but Bob has lot's of Scottish coloring in his complexion.

 

 

Better, but still not done

 

 I bravely went where I had feared to go. If you look at the final piece at the top of this post, you will see I added orange into his cheeks, color into his beard (his grey facial hair still has reds in the mustache and the chin areas). I defined the eye sockets near the nose with more crimson and blue, and put more blue on his right temple. I added those errant hairs to his thick eyebrows. I added a little roundness to his left check.

On Friday, David did a quick final demo and I watched the way he carefully puts down his strokes and does not always blend. He leaves lots of variations and some hard edges. I love his results. Check out his watercolor portraits.

I will save enhancements for my next shot at a portrait.

 

The No Color and Color Workshop

Payne's Grey Study # 2

8" x 6" watercolor

 

This week I am taking "No Color Water Color Portrait Painting - Taking Advantage of Paynes Gray," Sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (SCVWS).  David Lobenberg is an adjunct professor at Sacramento City College and a wonderful painter of expressive portraits. Here is David doing his demo on Sunday. For three and a half days, we worked just with Payne's Grey to learn value without the distraction of color. David uses unexpected vivid color and the paintings are very "loose" As I found out with Ted Nuttal, "loose" is not the result of flinging paint. David is very deliberate with his strokes and puts much thought into each one. I admire the way he moves the brush around in all directions to achieve variations in his marks.







 

David Lobenberg demo

 

 

A Lobenberg painting

 



Though David, a master at drawing, usually traces his subjects to save time, he wanted us to be able to draw and understand the underlying features of the human face.

 

 

When we did our studies, he had us use photos he supplied -- he uses students and friends as subjects. An important part of the process is understanding the consistency of your paint, which he likens to tea, milk, cream and butter. We would begin by creating the structure of the head with "tea." You are careful to leave the white of the paper and define the shadows. It's a little like Michelangelo's statement "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." He stressed the importance of letting that layers dry, otherwise you end up with a mess.

 

 

Payne's Grey Study

Layer 1 done in "tea"

8" x11" watercolor

 

Next we went in and used the other consistencies of paint to finish the painting. Again, patience to let the paint layers dry is key.

 

 



 

Paynes Grey Study #1

8" x 6" watercolor

 

On the afternoon of Day 4 David had us do a Payne's Grey study of our own photographed subject.  You can, of course, guess that Bob is my subject. Here is the photo I am working from.

 

 

 

David says to photograph your subject outdoors in strong light, but Bob had to squint so much that I didn't like the photo. In the morning, I asked him to throw on a shirt and his Balmoral hat that goes with his kilt and posed him in next to our diningroom sliding doors. I didn't expect him to wear an undershirt, but found it rather charmingly quirky, so I am including it in my portrait. I have now done the tea stage, but I will save the studies and stages to show you when I complete the portrait.

 



A Painter's Journey: "The last for which the first was made..."

"Sunlit Olive Grove"

Near Croagnes, Provence, France

Yesterday I returned home after being on the road for 108 days. Since flying to the East Coast on March 30th, I attended a family wedding on the beach at Hilton Head; completed a solo tandem bicycle tour with Bob from Key West, FL, to Portland, ME; and with artist friend, Joan, attended an art workshop in Provence, France, and visited Ireland. My art is my response to life. This morning I found myself asking, "Why do I travel?" Perhaps because I am the first-born of seven children to Vermont parents, and unlike most in the family, I lived in a half dozen places in several states before the family became firmly anchored in my parents' native Vermont when I was 8 years of age. After my marriage we moved several times, eventually settling in California. The answer to my question: I crave the challenge of getting outside my comfort zone, likely fostered by my earliest life experiences.

My bicycle tour is documented here. Bob and I wrote daily of our adventures and misadventures as we pedalled 52 of the 74 days we were on the road moving at bike speed through the history of this country, learning that which is similar and that which is unique in 2081 miles of riding a fully loaded tandem bicycle. Slowly accents morphed, scenery changed, and good people crossed our paths. I did a bit of sketching in ink and watercolor and surely more will emerge in time.

Day 49: 10 miles south of Woodbridge, VA,
making our way north to Portland, Me, from Key West, FL
Photo by Mike Miller

We arrived in Portland, ME, on June 19th, and it was time to think about that workshop in Provence that I agreed to attend with Joan, the latest in our annual art treks. Joan and I met at a watercolor workshop in Maine nine years ago, and she has long since moved on to painting in oils with great skill. The Maggie Siner workshop would be made up of oil painters and we had to go through a jury process to attend. Would a lone watercolorist be accepted? I realize now that not only did Maggie and Trish, her able administrator, consider our level of accomplishment in art, but also the energy and zest for life we would bring to the group. This would be a very active workshop with no tolerance for whiners.

You can read about Maggie, a tiny dynamo, superb artist, and successful teacher, and her landscape workshop here. Joan and I arrived at Marseille Airport after an overnight flight from JFK via Dublin, arriving in France at 9:30 am on July 2. We were picked up at the airport at noon by David, the owner of the workshop location, and were greeted with fruit, cheese, and wine in the tiny hamlet of Les Bassacs in the Luberon region of Provence at 2 pm. At 4:30 pm we were sitting in the studio for our briefing from Maggie. This would be an intensive art experience and save for one morning while painting in a cemetery in Goult wondering if I would ever successfully incorporate all this wonderful art instruction into my medium, I was on an art high. Over the next several posts, I will describe the workshop experience.

Our home in Les Bassacs, Provence
The website

The painting at the top of this post was done on the final morning in an olive orchard near Croagnes, and I consider it my most successful piece. Maggie's instruction on the planes of recession in the landscape and the color of light and shadow had finally come together for me. Joan and I left the following morning for a delightful five-day stay in Dublin with a terrific sense of accomplishment and memories that would last a lifetime.

Our early morning view of the Luberon Valley
from our patio breakfast table on the morning of departure

The Yellow Line Exercise

"Big Night Out"
21" x 14"
Acrylic
(c) Mary Paquet

For my birthday, I requested and received from son Jeff's family a book by Betsy Dillard Stroud, "Painting from the Inside Out." In it there are "19 projects and exercises to free your creative spirit. When I asked Betsy in October which book she would recommend I buy first, this is the one she said would push me to experiment. This painting is the result of doing the Yellow Line exercise. I began the painting week before last and finished it up last night.

As instructed I set up a jumble of overlapped objects. The idea is to go for a lot of shapes. So I set up a couple vases, some flowers, a wine bottle, a scarf, a hat, some shoes, and a jewelry box. Betsy says you can incorporate architectural features and landscapes. I mixed up transparent puddles of acrylic paint and drew my still life using a round brush and yellow paint. I had to close off all the lines and show the lines of objects through other objects. The idea is to create a lot of shapes. Then I began filling in the shapes with a variety of transparent washes, changing colors and values. I evaluated and used glazes to unify the composition.

I'm pleased with the results, though I have some self-criticisms. I didn't stay transparent enough in the beginning, so I had to do more opaque painting than I would like to bring out the shapes I wanted to emphasize. I also struggled with achieving variety in a harmonious way. I'm still learning to work with acrylics.

Monday Pears

"Monday Pears"
13" x 10"
Pastel

This was our first drawing class since before Christmas. There were just four of us there, all the more experienced students. The last time we met, we decided with Bob that we would like to do a relatively simple subject under his guidance. Even pears and plates are not so simple, with ellipses, spheres and cylinders with core forms, highlights and mid-tone values. This proved to be a very valuable lesson. Bob got us started and then we continued under his guidance. Every now and then, we would prop up our work and examine them from a distance. Bob would point out areas where we needed to do more work and we would go back to applying pastels.

"Reflections" in Monday's Drawing Class

Reflections
14" x 10"
Pastel

Bob brought in a lovely Delft blue and white bowl and some fresh lemons and oranges. Judith brought in a remnant from her granite countertop that reflects nicely. The setup was very appealing. However, I am always amazed that I have 98 different sticks of pastel, and I can't find a true lemon yellow. Layering colors filled the bill.

I wish everyone a happy holiday season!

Pastel Christmas and 20 minute sketches

"Christmas Time in the City"
16" x 13"
Pastel

"Birthday Celebration"
Rosedale Inn, Pacific Grove
6" x 9 " 20-minute sketch
Watercolor

"A Birthday with Wolf Kahn"
Rosedale Inn, Pacific Grove
6" x 9 " 20-minute sketch
Watercolor

We've been out of town and far away from my blog world. I start off today with work done in this morning's drawing class. To be truly done, this piece would need more work, but it's what I could accomplish during class and a half hour this afternoon. This proved to be a very challenging subject - I always struggle with value, and that tissue paper gave us all a run for our money. The center ball is most successful because Bob came over and added a few strokes of pastel to give me that "aha!" experience.

We went off mid-week to Pacific Grove to celebrate my birthday for a few days at the coast. We stayed at the Rosedale Inn, across the street from Asilomar. We walked the grounds at Asilomar and to the beach. If you know this stretch of Monterey Bay, you will recall the wonderful crashing surf on rocks. On my birthday we rode our folding Bike Fridays (travel bicycles) to Carmel by way of 17-mile Drive. I always wonder just where Clint Eastwood lives along there. No matter, the invigorating sunshine and cool ocean breezes made my day.

I received several wonderful art books as gifts from the family. Thus I did lots of reading in front of the fireplace. I also did two twenty-minute sketches inspired by Katharine Cartwright. Kathy is an amazing artist and provides some really wonderful discussions of art literature. Check out her website - her name is a live link. Kathy also started another blog challenging people to create a sketch in twenty minutes. Kathy did this for herself when traveling years ago to develop her technical skill and style. You just sit in your hotel room and sketch something in your medium of choice. You can see some results of her followers.

So at two different times during our mini-vacation, I sat and did a quick watercolor. The second one is especially meaningful to me because it includes the Wolf Kahn book that Bob gave me on the nightstand. I love Wolf Kahn's amazing work in oils and pastels, with his unusual color choices and minimal detail. In this book, the artist has brief vignettes about his travels and the resulting art. Because he now lives both in New York City in the winter and Vermont in the summer, I can really relate to many of the pieces that he painted, especially the Vermont paintings from my tiny home state.

I also received a Betsy Dillard Stroud book, a book on composition, and one on doing portraits. Likely you will see future references to them on this blog. My art library continues to grow.

Private Acrylic Lesson

"Pears"
Acrylic on paper

In April I will take a workshop with Stephen Quiller, a master watercolorist and acrylic artist. I wanted to jump start myself with acrylics, so I arranged for two private lessons with a friend, Joyce Barron Leopardo, SWA, an award-winning artist. Joyce is a wonderful teacher who does workshops for children at the Ronald McDonald House, nuns at a cloistered convent, and Bay area artists. She began my session by showing me many examples of her work in acrylic and mixed media - very inspiring.

We sat out on her beautiful deck in the hills overlooking the Bay and painted for thee hours. We had a great time. Joyce planned an exercise using a pear because of the simple shapes. I was to learn how to apply opaque acrylic paint similar to doing an oil painting. Joyce would emphasize placing lights next to darks and texturing the surface. We started with 2 full sheets of Arches watercolor paper, one coated with a layer of orange acrylic, and the other coated with a layer of Aso yellow acrylic. We cut the sheets into pieces measuring 5" x 7 ." We then taped three of the pieces together with a quarter-inch separation. The acrylic mother color sealed the watercolor paper so the paint moves lusciously upon the surface and is easy to manipulate.

Joyce matted two of the finished pieces and placed them in plastic protectors. The top piece above was my first effort, and really my favorite of the six I completed. As I painted with Joyce, I learned to achieve different effects. I used a palette knife to manipulate paint in the upper left corner, a piece of ridged cardboard for the table top texture, and scraped down to the orange in the highlight area of the pear with a piece of Starbucks gift card.

The second piece also employs my new favorite mother color, orange. I used crumbled plastic wrap to achieve the textured background, and stamped into the wet paint on the bottom with waffled rubber. I also scraped out some of the highlights on the pear with a palette knife. This manipulation exposed some of the mother color.

The third piece was also done on orange. Here I used lots of texture, layering paint and scraping with a palette knife. Joyce suggested adding a highlight with some contrasting paint. I selected hot pink and placed some on the left of the pear and on the stem and leaf. I tried playing around with some white paint and some purple to add lights and darks.

The fourth pear was created on the yellow mother color and I found it more difficult to select my colors for pleasing results; however, I am satisfied with all three pieces. Joyce had to do a touch of scraping in the pear highlight and add bit of paint for asymmetrical leaves to add some excitement. Then she suggested I drizzle some "tar gel" on the surface for some very interesting results. The gel makes loopy, organic lines that dry clear to reflect light at interesting angles and please the eye.

After matting and bagging the two pieces, Joyce loaned me a Stephen Quiller CD for the week, gave me leftover paints, showed me how she and Myrna Wacknov make a little travel kit of watercolors using an Altoids box and bottle caps and the resulting original gift cards she created while sitting for two hours in a plane on the tarmac. Joyce and I finished the day at a sweet Mexican cafe with delicious prawn tacos. I had a lovely time and look forward to our final session next Wednesday.

Pastels in Drawing class

"Fall Arrangement"

15" x 10"

I worked on this piece for two classes. I like the pitcher. I'm still missing it on the gourds. Bob gave a great demo after he saw that we were struggling with them. He says to start by establishing the dark shadow so you can key values from the shadow. Do not create a hard edge; bring the shadow pastel up into the gourd. Establish the surrounding value. Work from the middle of the gourd outward, being especially gentle as you approach the shadow area. Carefully place the highlights.

Strangely, the pastel paper has vertical lines in it. I bought the paper at University Arts where we have class and didn't notice the lines until I started doing the pastel. I believe they had some oddball sheets mixed in with the Canson Mi Tientes paper. I will check carefully in the future.

Susan's Pumpkin and a Special People in My Life

Susan's Pumkin
21" x 14"
Watercolor

In keeping with the fall theme, I am sharing a painting that I did last fall that is hanging in my kitchen dining area. I like the cheerful colors and the tonal values of this piece. It was based on a still life from my Monday Drawing Class with Bob Semans. Dear friend Susan, whom I met in the class, bought this pumpkin in Half Moon Bay, a coastal town famous for its pumpkins. Susan is also the owner of the turban squash in the last post. I did the original still life in charcoal, so all the values and highlights were already worked out before I put brush to paper and added my color choices.

Last Monday we learned from Bob Semans that he is featured in International Artist Magazine, along with other award winners in the Portrait Society of America's Annual Conference. I can't wait to buy the magazine, which I will do this evening, on my way to our ballroom dancing lesson.

I am getting my plein air gear ready to take off in the morning for Asilomar. Disappointingly, my roommate Jan has taken ill and won't be going with me. I was so looking forward to getting to be closer friends. I am hunting for a replacement, but will likely room alone. I have some wonderful plein air gear that I bought when heading off for Italy several years ago, but I didn't take it then because it proved to be rather heavy. It's a Sun Eden backpack capable of holding half sheets of watercolor paper, a wonderful easel, a stool and all my goodies. I'm now selective where I use it because it really weights me down. I am having fantasies about strapping it on the rack of my folding bike and riding from Asilomar to the locations -- hum -- might be able to do it. I have occasionally combined my cycling and art passions. Now if I could be as successful as Terri Hill is at it! Terri is in our awesome Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society and I am a big fan of her work.

I must mention fellow blogger Peggy Stermer-Cox who has had her piece, "Groovy Kitty" juried by well-known artist Christopher Schink into the Northwest Watercolor Society "Waterworks 2009" art show. "Topher" is a master colorist and I'm sure he was totally impressed with Peggy's harmonious color scheme featuring tints, shades, and muted tints. I am so proud of Peggy -- this is the second major show featuring a piece of her art this year. Coincidentally, next month Christopher Schink will be jurying awards for the SCVWS Linear Visions, our 42nd annual member show awards.

Finally, I want to thank two blogger friends for recently passing along blog awards: Claire McFeeley and Meghda Chatbar, both wonderful pencil artists. I have posted the blog awards proudly on the sidebar.

Monday Drawing Class - Gina with Hat

"Gina with Hat"

9 " x 12"

Charcoal and Conte

This is phase one of drawing Gina at art class this morning. We are to bring the piece back to continue working with shading next Monday. Bob moved her nose a smidge to the left, and I see now that the mouth and right eye need rework. When our instructor was at Atelier in Florence, they would work for three weeks on a piece, so surely I can refine this for another three hours! Gina wore the most wonderful green hat with feathers. With her lovely bone structure and natural ability to pose, she is a delight to draw. Another very satisfying class with friends.

Bob's Boots in Monday Drawing Class

"Bob's Boots"
12" x 14"
Pastel and charcoal

The subject today doesn't look difficult, but the still life was a real challenge. The perspective on these well-worn leather boots kept us on our toes, pun intended. At one point, I asked Bob to look at my drawing, and he said that my measurements were okay, but some of the shapes likely needed work. He had me keep at it and was pleased with my final result. I spent most of the time drawing the subject and maybe 20 minutes adding pastels. The color is not real true on this snapshot, but I can't seem to make the adjustment on the computer.

We will have more opportunities to draw these boots as Bob promises to bring them back in the next month. Actually, I look forward to trying them again. We will have Labor Day off and then we expect to have a live model the following Monday if Gina is available.

Florals in Monday Drawing Class

"Late Summer Bouquet"
Charcoal

Bob Semans brought in a lovely bouquet, but it all became a bit overwhelming when I tried to dive in with pastels. The same was true for all of us. So Bob again demoed to establish the very large shapes (clusters of light flowers against the dark green foliage) and fill in the darks with charcoal, dragging some across the shapes. Then pull out the flowers with a kneaded eraser. Establish the light and shadow patterns, fix, and add pastels. Without much time, I completed part of the charcoal underpainting before running out of time. Still lifes and even live models are easier than a complex floral bouquet when doing a meticulous realistic rendering. All said and done, I liked the beginnings.

Creating prototypes

Prototypes for "Arabesque Brides"

In March, Bob and I went to a concert at the John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC, while there for a conference. There was a gorgeous display of over 40 elaborate bridal gowns worn in the 22 countries of the Arab world as part of an upcoming show, "Arabesque." The mannequins were artfully arranged in the lobby. I took some photos intending sometime to use them in my art.

I am working towards a piece for "Linear Perspectives," the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society show in October. I must complete it before the end of the month if I intend to show this piece. (I have a backup plan, not to worry). So last night I painted a quarter sheet. I decided to invent a background that suggests mountains in a dry land, but very linear in keeping with the theme of the show. I know I want to show the beauty of the gowns, so they will be brightly colored and detailed, but the overall plane is flattened. I'm not great at Photoshop (I'd rather paint), so I printed out the three brides in a size that would work for an 8 x 10 prototype, and I cut out the three brides. By now I was recalling the paper dolls I so loved as a child.

I took two failed paintings and cut them into several smaller pieces. I drew the background on the back of each piece and experimented with color, tints, tones, shades, and value patterns. This process took little time and I could then put my three ladies on the background to check results. At one point, I looked at the blog of Peggy Stermer-Cox, one of my favorite artists. Peggy does non-representational work and has some knockout series on her blog. She spends lots of time experimenting with value patterns, design, and color. I checked out Kitty, Kitty, because I love her use of blue and orange, which is very soft. (Do check out her work -- her name is an active link .) I'm also being influenced by Myrna Wacknov's recent experiments with color on her blog.

I knew I would be using Cad Red for the bridal dresses, so I took some license with the color combination. The second picture shows my use of Cad Red Light and Windsor Blue (green shade) for the mountains and foreground. I loved how they neutralized each other. I did introduce one other color, Raw Sienna, into the sky, and dropped in the red. I decided that I am quite taken with the neutralized background. My next step is to do a half-sheet painting.

Pastels in Monday drawing class

"Mom's Shoes and Pearls"
Pastels
11" x 11"

Judith brought in some beautiful shoes and pearls that her mother had owned. The shoes were a soft green suede and satin. First I struggled with the drawing, but Bob rechecked my measurements and got me back on track. I am fairly satisfied with the shoes, but I am less than pleased with the golden drape. Also, I must order some decent pastel paper. I got to the point where the pastel no longer wanted to adhere, even after spraying with fixative. However, I had fun and learned more about perspective from this still life.

Monday Drawing Class - Veggies

"Pitcher and Peppers"
Pastels
13" x 11"

After being gone two weeks, I returned to drawing class at University Arts. I had such fun. Judith brought in some fresh veggies from farmers market and some art objects from her home. This is the result of my drawing one of two setups we had. Bob's class is open and ongoing with new people coming and going almost every week, thus Bob must devote quite a bit of time to the new attendees. He helped the old faithfuls (four of us) get set up and checked our progress after we had drawn our subject and started to add pastels. At this point he gave me a great pointer -- establish the value of the drape so I could key off that value. He came back when we were near the end of class and was very happy with the results we had achieved. He told us that we had come a long way in this class. What we had produced could be nicely framed.

Bob said we should treat ourselves to better paper, suggesting Kitty Wallis sanded paper, so I have a good reason to spend more money on art supplies, always a pleasure. Of course, Bob suggested a few tweaks that really pulled it together -- some light to contrast against the dark edges of the peppers and more distinct lights, which would have one hard edge. As I am new to pastels, I was pretty pleased with the overall results.

Finished "Melissa in the Morning"

"Melissa in the Morning"
22" x 30"

On Thursday evening's Southside Art Club session, I worked some more on this painting from the final day of the Don Andrew's Figurative workshop. This morning I added a few finishing touches. You can see my earlier post here. You will notice that I darkened the area next to the light on the face and shoulders. I added the suggestion of Melissa's hair piled on top of her head, and some red hues in the background on the left. My goal was to make this painting a suggestion of Melissa's beauty rather than total realism. I particularly used the design elements of shape, value, and color, along with edge treatments to achieve my goal.

I found working from life challenging and rewarding. Melissa is an excellent model and I have drawn her before at the Los Gatos Art Museum's Tuesday life drawing sessions arranged by Nancy. Nancy also took Don Andrew's class and we spent a few lunch hours together in wonderful conversation. A new friend, Patty, joined the fun. I love the connections I make among the local artists when I do art related activities. Truly our area is blessed with some very fine artists.

Final Day of Don Andrews Workshop

"Melissa in the morning"

Don's afternoon demo

Don continued his discussion of color and value, noting that all colors have a place on the value scale. Color reads best in the middle value ranges. So we use lots of middle values, and some of light and dark values if we want a colorful painting. I painted Melissa in the morning wearing a lovely scarf and drape. This painting is just partially finished. I have yet one more, but I want to do a bit more work, as it's almost complete, and then I will post it.

In the afternoon, Don did a final demo on color values. You can see that he also sketched Melissa in the morning from a different position. Don probably painted this in less than 20 minutes so it's not one of his finished pieces, but impressive just the same.

I had another lovely lunch hour chatting with two fellow artists and Christina, one of our models. We sat under the tree at the Rosicrucian Museum. I will be keeping in touch with both Pat and Nancy. Nancy and I figured out our connection; she arranges the life drawing at the Los Gatos Art Museum that I attended on Tuesday afternoons in the fall. I hope to get back to doing that.

Day 4 of the Don Andrews Workshop

Partially complete "Melissa"

Don Andrews demos adding color for the light areas of the painting

Now things are beginning to come together for me. Don started the day demoing how to achieve hard, soft, and lost edges. This alone was worth the price of admission! In the afternoon he put it all together with a demo: (1) wet the paper and created colorful lights; (2) add form to the figure with a mid-tone value and create the edges as you go; (3) sandwich the figure with the background, creating interesting shapes. All the while we keep rewetting the sections we are working on.

We got to do two paintings today, one of each model doing 20-minute poses with 5-minute breaks. The afternoon session was the longest, spanning over two hours. I did Melissa in the afternoon on a full sheet. This snapshot is not the greatest and doesn't show a bit of the left side of the piece. I am fairly happy with it to this point. I need to find more edges by darkening some edges, do more work on the figure, and Don advises me that I should keep the leftmost white shape and get rid of the whites to the right. I had a glorious time doing this piece.

Lunch was also fun. Several of us ate at wrought iron tables under a luscious tree on the grounds of the Rosicrucian Museum. Then three of us walked briefly. The time flies when you are having fun.