Last day of my workshop

Hi again, it's day three of our workshop, the final day.  The weather is perfect and we carpooled to a pond on top of a mountain.  We all had to work from one side as it was almost impossible to get around it.  Mark set up and looked off to his left and his focal point was a white rock.  He blocked everything in thinly and then set about painting that rock, using mostly a palette knife. He doesn't go back and play around once he lays things in. Mark analyzes everything considering light and shadow color. He says hone your skills of observation, see everything and then make decisions about it. Some of his greens are very intense and that threw me a bit as I tend not to use very saturated greens but it works for him. He likes to start with his focal point and

get that right. Also as I mentioned earlier he doesn't normally complete his plein air paintings but he makes sure to complete at least one element in a painting so he has shadow and light conditions correct.  He tries so hard to produce exactly what he sees.  He doesn't use burnt sienna, he doesn't like earth colors as he says they are dead colors. 

After lunch we all set up to paint, I was determined to get a completed painting. I did not work on a oil primed panel, I had brought some linen panels that were acrylic primed and I'm comfortable with those.  With such a small group he was very available to offer help. The sun of course went in so we were dealing with cool light and warm shadows.  I painted this grouping of trees with the fallen tree in the middle, came out ok. I felt a little better about things. You would like the teacher to think you are capable of painting something, anything, lol. 

Thoughts about the workshop.  It was expensive, $900 for three days but with the small group I felt it was worth it. 

Slow down

Paint with purpose

Lay down correct strokes

Start thin and transparent

Be excited about your subject

I plan to review my notes over and over and work on things.  I painted out today and started with transparent colors and told myself to slow down.  No regrets, it was a great experience. 

Day 2 of my workshop

Hi there!  Well day 2 we woke up to sunshine! My old bones was happy to see that, lol. We jumped in our cars and headed off to a breathtakingly beautiful place,  huge rocks and a waterfall. We were in Waitsfield Vermont and this is a very common scene there.  

Mark set up next to the water and today he blocked in his whole canvas with thin transparent washes again.  He would lay down a color for a rock and wipe most of it off. He loves the idea of creating something out of very little paint. I have to say his gray washes did feel like rocks. I was so appreciative of where I was and of course just being co close to Mark while he worked.  I joked we are Mark groupies soaking it all up, even gasping sometimes at small changes in the painting, if your an artist you will understand I know. 

Mark has a YouTube video where you can watch a speeded up scene of him painting something similar to this.  Just enter Mark Boedges in the search bar. 

He makes every stroke count, no mindless painting. I would frequently see him mix a color and then wipe it in his palette knife as it wasn't exactly what he wanted.  As I mentioned yesterday he normally doesn't finish a painting on location. If you keep up with him you may know he has competed in plein air competitions around the country.  He said at first he felt it was helpful and then as time went along he felt it was hurting him. He worked until noon, looked finished to me but the painting is shown here and he worked on it that night and framed it, one of the workshop participants bought it. 

We sat up to paint after lunch and my plan was to paint the scene Mark had painted.  I struggled with those slick panels and my paint did not set up with the medium, I could have wiped it back to the white  canvas even at the end.  Excuses, right? Lol. Anyway I blocked mine in and my rocks didn't feel right to me,  this isn't a scene I ever get to paint and I was really out of my comfort zone.  I set it aside and blocked in a different simpler scene.  Really aggravating, I always say it's a bonus to come home with a decent painting from a workshop but it sure feels good if you do.  More soon. 

Mark Boedges workshop

Hi Friends, well I am back from my workshop with Mark Boedges in Vermont. First let me say Vermont is beautiful, so green with perfect farms and mountains everywhere.  I think I will spread this post out over maybe three times as it will be just too much for one post. This was a dream of mine to do this, I LOVE Marks work. This was a five person intensive plein air workshop and it was really about him teaching us his process.  He is slow and meticulous and says he doesn't finish anything plein air. Just to be hanging out with Mark watching him and paint and listening to his thought process as he paints was amazing. 

Day 1, we met out under a shelter on the first day as it rained all day and never made it up to 50*, it really crept into you, brrr.  Each day Mark would demo up until noon when we broke for lunch. He uses Turp when he paints outside. He starts with thin transparent washes and the Turp helps it set up quicker. I work in water mixable oils and have for a few years, he wanted us to work on a oil primed surface so I purchased a medium made for the water mixable oils to thin my paints and stayed out of the water as I was using a oil primed surface as he wanted. Hard to make changes in your substrate and materials while attending a workshop. He focused on the side door and stairs of the inn after he put a wash on his panel.  He showed us how he painted Windows, he paints the glass and that creates the mullions.  The red addition on the end wasn't actually attached but he wanted to demonstrate his window technique again. This small demo took him four hours with time out to talk about his materials and answer questions etc., so maybe three hours in total. After lunch we set up and tried to find something else to paint from under the shelter and it kept raining, not the best conditions. I painted part of a red barn and tried out painting Windows his way, I wasn't excited about what I was painting and ended up wiping it off, that really doesn't bother me though.  Day one ended and I headed off to warm up, things got better on day 2.  I have attached a few photos from day one and his finished demo.  I'll be back.

Girls Night Out

Every few months in Lebanon Ohio they have Girls Night Out.  A fun evening where a nice crowd of ladies head to Lebanon for dinner and shopping.  Most of the businesses in town offer discounts and put out wine and snacks,  I will be at Picture This Saturday evening.  I cleaned out my studio and I'll be bringing 50 paintings for only $50 each.  All unframed 8" X 10" originals, standard size to frame.  So you live in the area please stop by.