Succulent Saturday - Oil Painting Workshop, last

 Last week of  the oil-painting portrait workshop. Last, 2+ hour demo from our illustrious instructor.

 Rough block-in.

 Refining areas...

 Starting to add color.

Lovely end result of demo....

 Tools of the trade...

 Then we got a turn. My initial block-in/underpainting.

 Initial color application.

 How far I got in our 2.5 hours...

Then our final critique. Compared to our first week, I think we made amazing progress! In the meantime, I have a teensy bit more of a feel for this thing called oil paint....

Succulent Saturday - Portrait Workshop

Week 3 of this oil painting portrait workshop with Liana Bennett -

We practiced mixing skin tones, and then watched a Liana demo.

It's interesting for me watching this approach to painting -

(SO different and abstract compared to my more typical watercolor...)

We talked quite a bit about color and mixing this week (again - very different from how I normally work).

Things are so soft and mushy with this medium!

Took lots of notes on the thought processes behind applying color and tone...

Liana's lovely underpainting....

So, this is my first attempt at adding color. It was funner to use this week (although I'm not sure I ever really want to paint with this for real....)

One more week....

Succulent Saturday - Portrait Workshop

 Second week of the oil-painting portrait workshop...

(more instructor examples.)

 This week, we were shown several different approaches to underpainting...

 Shadow patterns, silhouettes, vine-charcoal drawings... Shown with the hope that one will 'work' for us in any given situation.

 (I still don't know what I'm doing....)

 (Oil paint is stupid!)

 Charcoal is a little more familiar...

I want to do one of these a day until I get a better feel... Given my current schedule, it's a little bit wishful thinking, but something I'd like to aspire to.

WIP Wednesday - Oil Painting Workshop

 Last week, I started a 4-week oil-painting portrait workshop -

 - taught by the owner of Arts Umbrella, Liana Bennett (studies shown here).

 She's a beautiful portrait painter, and despite me not being versant in oils at ALL, I wanted the chance to hear how she thinks and approaches the face and figure.

 We got to watch her thought processes as she demonstrated an underpainting....

 (all the pretty colors!)

 I don't know how to use this medium, or these stiff brushes or work on this surface, but, it's interesting to mess around with....

First day critique. Now to see if I can get any painting-practice time in...

Greg Manchess Workshop! - Day 3

It is sadly the *last* day of our workshop with the fabulous Greg...

 So.Much.Stuff! The day(s) flew by.

 Lecture, lecture -

 work, work -

 lecture, lecture -

 work, work (study, reference...)-

 lecture, lecture, critique, draw some *more*.

 Lots attempted. Lots done. Lots learned. Lots talked about. Lots to think about and keep applying. Lots of great people to get to know and work with. SO good overall.

-so much so, we continued to talk, share and deliberate even after coming home to decompress... (Part of the fun for me was having a third of the class staying at my house for the duration. :-)

At any rate, I came home with ideas for a number of new pieces to explore, and hopefully expanded skills with which to attempt them.

Thanks all you workshop folks - it was a weekend to remember.
And thanks so much Greg for sharing your fabulousness.

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...