Paint-along Demonstration

Cows at the Barn, 11 x 14

For the past couple of months I've been working with a student by doing paint-along demonstrations, which I've really enjoyed.  With these private classes I've left the subject matter to her and, working side by side, explained each step of how I'd approach the painting.  For this painting, we were working from a photo taken during an overcast day, giving us little to go on regarding color and contrast, so we had to make up some of these artistic decisions.  By carefully considering color temperature and extending the fence into the foreground, we were able to create depth in the painting. We also used a more saturated splash of color and more detailed contrast to create our focal point in the lower left area of the painting.

I felt a bit intimidated when it came time to place in the cows...something I don't think I've ever painted before. My student, however, has painted many and does quite well at it. We decided our goal would be to loosely place in just enough information to have the two areas read as groups of black & white cows.

For our finishing touches, we looked for opportunites to harmonize the color throughout, and even working into the cows some of the same dark and light colors used in other areas of the painting.