Greg Manchess Workshop! - Day 2

Day #2 - and we're slaving away!

(We are few in number, and therefore get good one-on-one attention from slave-driver, Greg...)

Plus, demos!

And lectures, punctuated by many examples of many peoples' praise-worthy art,

and art techniques...

(with a slight interruption by a relatively brief power-outage. Who says workshops aren't full of surprises and excitement?)

The most exciting part however, is seeing how ones' own compositions can be pushed and strengthened even *further* by such a keen and experienced eye. Really inspiring to see!

Sadly, last day is tomorrow...

Greg Manchess Workshop! - Day 1

Greg Manchess workshop started today!

Greg is his usual charming, self-depreciating, warm and approachable self (despite a lingering cold).

We're mostly covering preliminary work - lots of hammering on thumbnails and composition. He put us right to work - drawingdrawingdrawingdrawing (I nearly sharpened through two pencils)...

....interspersed with lectures and examples. I still maintain that Greg does the most beautiful thumbnails of anyone on the planet.

(frantic, scattered pages of compositional disarray!)

Greg - so wise, experienced and generous with sharing his knowledge...

(Tara - so befuddled and 'challenged'... Maybe someday I'll 'get' all this stuff. When I grow up..?)

Class ran over by an hour. Then a bunch of us went to dinner and talked yet *more* art for 3 more hours! (See us hanging on his every word!).

Class #2 tomorrow...

WIP Wednesday - homework -

Our last black and white assignment is supposed to be a personally meaningful piece centered around either the theme of 'loss' or 'dreams'.

Some of these are riffs on some previous sketches -

(this concept was totally lost on my young, single, male instructor... He was mystified.)

Here's a variation on the tree sketch...

I didn't get as far with this one - but this *is* a sample book cover that I totally want to finish at some point.

Figure Friday - more homework...

For those of us who aren't taking multiple classes there were some optional assignments to choose from.  I choose this option:

Option 2:

Step 1. Choose your top ten paintings of all time. Do one thumbnail of each that studies the shapes, linear design, and tonal pattern. Pay close attention to the principles of design. Pay close attention to where and how symbols are used in the pieces.

Step 2. Choose one of the most personally moving memories of your life that you are comfortable exploring visually and symbolically. Create four thumbnails which compose your ideas into a scene using what you learned from Step 1. (*for me personally, this type of work helps me work through my own inner experiences and situations to a healthy resolution. It is personal art therapy through composition and symbolism. Explore your inner realm and moods in value and tone.)

Great assignment, isn't it?

Here are a few pages of classical painting thumbnails...

 It was impossible for me to pick my 'all time top 10', it changes frequently - so I picked a number of my favorite artists, and picked a well-liked painting or two from them...

One thing I noticed about my choices - I seem to prefer single (and occasionally double), central figures, minimal background - unless it's nature-based, and I seem to be drawn to mythic-themes (there are lots of wings), children, water, light....

And so I did some thumbnails of my own. Themes transmuted as I went...

 I can see how this could become very therapeutic. :-)