ted nuttall workshop: day #1

we spent the morning, after introductions, etc., learning about ted's philosophy on art and painting. i think the biggest thing that i took away from this is to enjoy the journey; that it isn't uncommon to dislike the outcome at first but at least you have the memories of the process. so enjoy the process. that doesn't mean that it has to be "fun" in the usual, barrel-of-monkeys sense, but at least something from which one gains satisfaction as time well spent. i think that i would have stopped long ago if the end result of the painting process was what spurred me on....just haven't had that many awe-inspiring paintings issue from my brush yet; but, my oh my, the sights along the way!

i was so engrossed in the process of the painting once he turned us loose with brush and paint that i forgot to take as many pictures as i intended. i do have two, however, and will post them here. i elected to go with the thai girl with the neck rings from a photo by babsteve (flickr) of which i did a sketch about a week ago. ted's process is very layer-upon-layer oriented and therefore much different from the rather alla prima approach i learned while studying with charles reid. this will make me slow down and i think that will be good. i have already learned something just from the drawing process which included much more detail than i have in past. the drawing process probably took twice as long as i might have before this exercise (about 90 minutes as opposed to perhaps 35-45 minutes). the modified contour type of drawing is the same which puts one in a painting frame of mind, but the amont of detail and careful "proportioning" is much more deliberate. when i started painting i could see the benefit right away as i knew exactly where i wanted to put a particular wash. i still consulted the photo for edges and value, but the location was  much less tentative. as you can see from the photos, most of the washes were 10-15 "percent"-ers. he also relies much less on gimmicks than other paitnters especially for me, not scraping for the hair strands. hmmm, this will be like going cold turkey for a smoker. i might have to join sa....scrapers anonymous. so, here are two stages of the painting after the inital washes and then about 60 minutes later with some of the first over-glazing.

i have to apologize as my version of blogger isn't cooperating this morning and won't upload photos from photoshop or my desktop. i'll try again later, and if successful, will edit this post.

sorry.  halleluia! it works this morning. here are the two stages i was talking about.