A little diversion never hurts........

I find it relaxing to paint a small, 1/4 sheet or so landscape whenever i think i need or just want a break from my main interest, figurative works.  They seem to go together fairly quickly. The larger brush strokes, etc. loosen things up a bit.

We are going to paint this as an excercise in the more advanced watercolor class i am teaching in about 3+ weeks. Lots of technique in a smallish package......flat wash, variegated wash, graded wash, preserving whites, losing edges, atmospheric perspective, clouds, rain, a little bit of dark accents......you get the idea.

This photo reference is courtesy of Frank Eber.....thank you Frank.

"Gathering Storm", (10"x14").

Weekend workshop

Last weekend we had our local WRAP (Wisconsin regional art program) exhibition for the western part of the state. Along with the show, participants could also attend the 5-hour workshop entitled, "Painting people in watercolor". I had the honor this year of being the workshop teacher. It was a great   afternoon. I certainly learned alot, which i think is almost always to case for the presenter, and i hope the participants did as well. It was basically watch what i do then you do it sort of day. Lots of demonstration of techniques and one on one teaching with each of the 13 students. The end result was a demonstration painting that was in a curious state of (non) completion. Somethings overly finished while some completely under developed. This, in order to show folks as much as i could in the time alloted, and thus allow the possiblility of finishing their works at home later.

My thanks to participating painter Tim Mc Allister who took some "in process" photos. So, below are the steps of the painting both during and after the workshop.