Workshops, A Group Show and an Article

Just held a two-day pastel/oil workshop at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville, GA. I enjoyed working with this enthusiastic group of artists who asked many questions throughout the two days. Many times students will apologize for asking so many questions. But groups like this make for more productive, and what I feel to be a more successful workshop. So if you take one of my workshops...ask away!

Below are my demos from this workshop (one oil, one pastel), with thumbnails and an initial block in for the pastel piece.

Zigzag, oil, 11x14

Bursting With Springtime, pastel, 11x14

My next local(ish) workshops will be in November...one in Austell, GA (oil) and the other in Dahlonega, GA (oil/pastel). The one in Dahlonega will be my "Composition Boot Camp" where I'll make more sense out of the thumbnails you see above.

My next pastel workshop is coming up in June, with the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod. A second workshop (2-day) has just been added and last I heard there are a few spot still left in this one.

Details for my workshops are on my website.

Tomorrow I'll be hanging a show with three other artist friends at the Artists Atelier of Atlanta, located in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. The show runs from May 2 - May 30, with a reception on Sat., May 17, noon - 4, during the Miami Circle Art Walk which takes place the third Saturday of each month. I'll post more details on this soon, but in the meantime, following below are a few of my pieces included in the show...

September Goldenrod, oil, 11x14

Orange Roof, oil, 8x10

Road May Be Slippery, pastel, 12x16

One more piece of news to share here...I haven't yet received my copy of the June issue of the Pastel Journal, but I'm excited to say that I'll have an article in this issue, in the "Skill Builders" section of the magazine. The focus of the article is on how I block in my paintings, which is typically one of the focuses of my workshops.

Harmonizing Structures and the Landscape

Tucked Away, oil, 9x12

This month in my classes at my studio we once again studied structures within the landscape. Last month's subject matter had more similarities in the local color of the white buildings and the snow on the ground, so it was a little easier to develop a cohesive look between buildings and landscape. This time, the structures have less in common with the surrounding landscape, so it's the artist's job to create that harmony. We addressed lost and found edges a bit as we did last month, but most of the focus was on harmonizing the color palette.

In my oil demo, Tucked Away, the red and pink colors within the roof of the barn were pretty easy to incorporate into the trees and grass. The shadows on the barn used a cool blue color that was used less liberally in other areas, but it's repeated in the sky and then darker values of the same hue were used in the darker shadow of the open garage door and also in some of the shadow areas of the trees and bushes as well as the cast shadow on the roof. Although not immediately obvious, the colors of the sunlit areas of the barn are also repeated throughout the painting. In order for those sunlit areas to appear bright white, they have to have a very warm contrast to the strong cool shadow areas. (In my experience, highlight areas like this need to be warmer than you might think in order to appear "sun drenched.") So those whites are really very light values of the golds, reds and pinks you see elsewhere in the painting.

Around Back, pastel, 10x8

In my pastel demo, Around Back, the subtle value shifts of the weathered brown barn provided a vast range of warms and cools to also incorporate into the greenery. The blue/gray shiny roof also provided a nice hue to harmonize the sky, rocks and some of the lighter shadow areas on the ground. However, I had more struggles with this pastel piece than with the oil demo. I finally realized this subtle value range also gave me so many choices that it was tough to narrow in on distinct color palette, which is why I think the pastel  piece proved to be more challenging. The strong lighting on the white barn in the oil piece was more clear cut with the values of the warms and cools.

In my painting journey, as I continuously move back and forth between painting in oil and pastel, the pros and cons with each medium are always very evident to me. In this case, with oil, even though you have the challenging task of mixing paint colors, creating color harmony can be easier when you limit your tube colors and continuously pull from these same colors. With pastels, it's too tempting to keep grabbing yet another color that just might work better. This creates an overly busy and disjointed color palette, and also of course...muddy color.

In this pastel piece, rather than continue to try and layer on additional colors as I wrestled with a chosen color palette, I brushed off the pastel from the surface and rewet the surface with alcohol so I could restart with a non-dusty "clean slate." After my class, I did this many times until I settled into a color palette. (Normally I try to limit myself to only fine tuning my demos after students leave.)

Rather than posting the progression shots this time, I've shown the reference photos below...

Upcoming Georgia Workshop

River Harmony, pastel, 11x14

I was invited to conduct a demo yesterday for the Georgia Art League at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville, GA. They were an enthusiastic bunch who asked lots of great questions! "River Harmony" is the piece I painted for them. I spent a lot of the demo time explaining how I plan and block in a painting, taking it a little more than half way to completion. I finished it up this morning back at my studio.

In a little over a week, I'll be back in Gainesville at Quinlan to teach a 2-day landscape workshop in oil and pastel. The dates are April 28 & 29 (Mon/Tues), 10 - 6, $250. These two days will be packed with information and exercises on composition, color harmony, paint/pastel application and the all important challenge of simplifying busy landscape subject matter.

Contact Quinlan Visual Arts Center to sign up:
www.quinlanartscenter.org
info@qvac.org
770-536-2575

Workshop Wrap Up - Mainstreet Art Center, Lake Zurich, IL

I enjoyed spending several days last week with a great group of artists in the Chicago area. Mainstreet Art Center in Lake Zurich hosted my 3-day landscape workshop for pastel and oil. Below are my completed demos from the workshop.

Winter Evening Magic Hour, pastel, 12x12

Rising River, oil, 12x9

With the pastel demo, I discussed the importance of the thumbnail "map" for deliberate, planned placement of every element in the landscape. The oil demo was an example of blocking in the painting with just five shapes.

We also did a day of "minimal stroke" exercises, which is always a real eye-opener for students. I demonstrated quick examples in both pastel and oil. With either medium, this exercise causes artists to realize what they need to think about before laying down each stroke. The oil painters especially realized how much paint they actually need to mix up and have on their brush before putting the brush to their canvas.

During the workshop, one resourceful student, Chuck Sisson, came up with a brilliant solution to handling some busy subject matter in his landscape. Thought I'd share. Below is Chuck's painting in progress and a detail of this painting beneath. 

Work in progress by Chuck Sisson.

Detail, resulting from a "carved" pastel stick.

Chuck had initially placed in these fern-like stems in a way that was rendering far too much detail and not accurately depicting the "thicks and thins" of the foliage. Many experienced artists usually try to simplify areas such as this by connecting shapes and pulling out just a few of the fine edges and details. However, Chuck, an experienced artist himself, came up with a different solution: He carved with a razor blade some indentations into the flat edge of a Terry Ludwig pastel to create a simplified pattern that he pressed onto the surface. I thought he made it work beautifully!!

My next workshop will be here in Georgia, at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville, located a little more than an hour north of the Atlanta area. This one is also offered to both oil and pastel artists, and will be two intensive days studying how to simplify and interpret the landscape. With affordable hotels nearby and plenty of great restaurants right near the art center, it's a great opportunity for out-of-towners to travel here for a short-term workshop. It's April 28 & 29 (Mon/Tues), 10 - 6, $250. Visit www.quinlanartscenter.org for more information and to register.

Buildings in the Landscape

Sundown Light, oil, 8x10

The Evening Show, pastel, 8x10

The focus this month in my classes at my studio was buildings within the landscape. The challenge here for the landscape artist is to avoid over defining and over rendering structures. This causes structures to look too stiff among the softer, often curvier edges of the landscape. As a landscape artist, our goal is to have structures look like they blend into the landscape, and not appear cut out and pasted in.

I think there are two critical areas to address in order to do this successfully:

1) Edges - Yes, in reality the edges of a building are certainly going to be stiffer, sharper, straighter than leaves on a tree or the foliage of a bush. But the job of the landscape artist is to be the editor of our paintings and decide WHICH edges get to communicate the idea of "straight" and "crisp." If we render every edge equally, that will lead to the cut out and pasted, stiff look. Finding areas to completely lose edges (often where two areas of similar values meet) creates a more fluid look, and also allows shapes to visually connect, which strengthens the composition. Beginning the painting by connecting large abstract shapes (i.e., connecting landscape elements with the structures) helps to establish this in the early stages.

2) Color Harmony - Even if your structure, in reality, shares no common color with elements in your landscape that it's within, it's the artist's job to find opportunities to harmonize color use. One way is with light and shadow found in both the structure and the landscape. Also, keeping to a limited palette and repeating colors where they'll "make sense"--thinking more in terms of "warms" and "cools" rather than exact local color--can allow you to find more areas for common, harmonized color.

"Sundown Light" and "The Evening Show" are my demos from my March oil and pastel classes. Below are some progression shots from each...

Workshop Wrap Up - Akron Society of Artists, Akron, OH

One of the best parts of teaching workshops is having the opportunity to meet friendly, enthusiastic artists who are eager to learn. My experience last week during my pastel workshop for the Akron Society of Artists in Akron, OH was no exception! With a mix of new and experienced artists in this group, we all enjoyed sharing knowledge and talking art for three days straight!

Day 1 demo...

Hilltop View, 11x14

Day 2 demo...

Warm Memory, 11x14

underpainting for Warm Memory

Day 3 demo...

minimal stroke exercise...completed in 100 strokes

Snow on the Marsh Impression, 6x8 (after a few touch up strokes)

During my visit for this workshop, I was honored to have the Akron Society of Artists (ASA) ask me to lead their critique group one evening. This is a group comprised of many accomplished artists with some "wow" paintings, which made this a challenging yet extremely enjoyable experience. Thank you, ASA!

The Greens of Winter

Yes, I realize I've been painting lots of snow lately. I promise I'll stop soon. The winter weather in most areas of this country has outstayed its welcome already, but it's so darn fun to paint! In my classes this month at my studio, I wanted to spend one more session playing in the snow, this time focusing on greenery within a snow scene in order to study the warm and cool color temperatures in the greenery as compared to the snow.

It's quite the balancing act to observe these color temperatures in such different hues in the landscape. But with painting, everything is relative, and it's a matter of comparing how one color appears next to another. The same color can appear cool in one location but warm in another.

Below are my oil and pastel demos from this topic...

Three's a Crowd, pastel, 8x10

Middle of the Road, oil, 8x10

In both paintings, the darks of the greenery made for a strong value contrast against the snow. Careful observation reveals that even the shadow areas of the snow are a great deal lighter than the greenery. Even the highlighted areas of the greens are still darker than the shadow areas of the snow. Warm and cool color shifts in both the snow and the greenery are key to conveying sunlight and shadow areas, with the value shifts in those areas much more subtle.

Below are a few progression shots of each...

Workshop Wrap Up - Red Cockerill Gallery

This past Saturday I enjoyed spending the day with a great group of artists at the Red Cockerill Gallery in Austell, GA, a town just west of Atlanta. This charming little gallery is run by Ann Cockerill, who also teaches classes regularly at her gallery, and occasionally hosts workshops by guest artists. I was fortunate to be invited back to teach a workshop, after conducting a demonstration there several months ago.

Several in this group were experienced artists, but new to pastel. Ann was kind enough to work with me to put together a starter supply kit for students to purchase from the gallery. This was a great, affordable way for many in the group to give pastels a try.

Since many of the pastels in the starter kit were fairly bright, and I wanted to try and use as many as I could from the same pastels as the class, my resulting demo was a bit on the bright side! I did sneak in several of my neutrals, and explained the importance of balancing color temperature, even when you desire intense color in your finished painting. "Winter Reds" was my demo from this workshop.

Winter Reds, pastel, 14x11

thumbnail value study for Winter Reds