A Most Enjoyable Workshop

Just returned from a wonderful three-day painting workshop on expressive color with my favorite art teacher, Christopher Schink, at Sylvia Megerdichian's lovely Art Box Studio in Upland.  After helpful reviews of our work and between informative and inspiring slide shows and entertaining demonstrations, we worked on our own paintings in different color schemes. We were urged to try colors outside of our comfort zone.

As an exercise, we divided our paper into fourths or sixths and painted the same subject with all different color combinations. Here is my exercise:

Next I chose to do a painting based on hue contrasts, in the Post-Impressionist 2 color scheme: all pure hues, with a little black. Showing the class this painting, Toph said, "This is how grandfathers feel about grandchildren."

Then I did a painting based on contrasts in intensity, in a "Turner" or "Milton Avery" color scheme: tints, tones, and grays. Showing the class this painting, Toph said, "And this is how grandmothers feel about grandchildren."

This workshop was so much fun and I learned so much that the only problem is that now I am sad that it is over. But there is the Intensive Studies Seminar in Taos to look forward to in April!

Painting Again!

After not having painted for over three months -- had a show and taught a workshop, got that respiratory thing going around, adult kids moved back in, a new grandchild was born -- I decided today to get myself warmed up and back into the swing of painting by just playing and doing a nonobjective painting. That was fun and got me going, so I tried a Linda Kemp negatively painted landscape and then a negatively  painted nature study. Just completing three paintings today makes me feel much more like a human being, though none of them are that great.

"The Mountain Gave Birth to Peace and Harmony"

"Pond Trees"

"Grape Vines"