Tuscan Street View - ATC

Thiis 2.5 x 3.5 ATC was also done for the WetCanvas project. I used 2 photos I took in Tuscany to combine buildings for the right and left side of the painting. Many towns in Tuscany look almost deserted like this from about 1 to 4 when everything except a few restaurants close down.

Workshop Paintings - Day 4

On day 4 of the workshop with Gerald Brommer we worked on incorporating the environment, weather, time of day, season, and activities of people or animals into our paintings. Again we selected a reference photo and did at least 4 sketches. Then we were to do 2 paintings of the subject, changing the season, weather. etc. I picked a photo I had taken on Monhegan Island in Maine. Jerry had done a demo of painting fog so I did one version in sunlight and one in fog. Each gives a very different feeling about the subject.

Sweet Easter Dreams

Happy Easterand Happy Spring! This 5 x 7 was done for the WetCanvas Easter card exchange. I also made prints of it to use as my Easter card to family this year. I set up the still life for this and nearly ate it before the entire painting was done.

Workshop Paintings - Day 3

Day 3 of our class with Jerry Brommer focused on the mood of the painting. We selected our reference, did 4 sketches, and then did paintings from 2 of the sketches. We came up with 3 visual adjectives to describe each painting we were working on. When each painting was finished we wrote the adjectives on the back. Later as the class walked around to view the paintings, they would check to see if the painting captured those words. For the first painting (Approaching Storm), my adjectives were ominous, cloudy, and grey. For the second painting (Marsh Sunrise) my adjectives were serene, clear, and open. This painting assignment definitely showed us the different emotional impact paintings have and the mood each gives.

Workshop Paintings - Day 2

During the second day of the workshop we used our own references to find 4 or 5 elements we wanted to use in our paintings. Then we did at least 4 sketches using those elements. The aim was to rearrange the elements for each painting, making each part more/less dominant by moving it to the back or front of the painting or to a different spot in the painting, changing the colors, etc. Using the same subject there is an incredible number of possible paintings based on these changes. (So much for not having anything to paint!) Both of these painting were done from elements in 2 photos I had taken in Maine.

Workshop Paintings - Day 1

I just finished taking a watercolor workshop with Gerald Brommer on content and emotion. The first day of the class he had us do 5 minute sketches of 12 landscape slides. We picked on of our sketches and did 2 paintings of the exact same scene. One painting was done as a high key (light valued) painting and one was done as a low key (dark valued painting). I definitely showed how the values change the emotion of a painting.