Dan Schultz Workshop in Colorado Springs

Right about a month ago, I went to Colorado Springs for some mountain biking and a workshop with Dan Schultz.  The workshop was a 2 day event with the first day covering plein air landscape painting and the second consisting of portraiture from life.  I was mainly interested in the landscapes but figured I couldn't go wrong by extending myself with some portraiture. I really admire Dan's use of color and he typically paints higher key than I do so I thought some exposure to this would be good for me. Dan took us to Bear Creek Park in Colorado Springs for the first day.  He did his demo then turned us loose.  I had previously been trying to paint some on my own in the days before the workshop and found myself stymied and frustrated.  I think the lack of humidity played some role in that as I could make out detail on mountains I knew were several miles away.  I usually respond well to watching people paint and I think this day was no exception.  I don't think I did anything stupendous but it was a huge leap over what I had been doing the day or two before!

 

 

The painting above was my first of the day and it really leveraged on Dan's demo.  I am unaccustomed to seeing purple in mountains here in Arkansas.  You really only see that during certain times of the day.  Dan likes to isolate color using a pinhole technique and when I did that I clearly saw the purple.  The pinkish purple here is what I thought I saw but it is probably weighted quite a bit too far to the red.  I thought about changing it but decided to stick with what I thought was really there.

 



 

Dan challenged me with the notion of painting clouds and as I studied them, I became entranced by the idea.  I really like some of the work here in this one.

 

Late in the afternoon, I decided to go down to the creek side and try to tackle this.  I knew it would be hard but I've done scenes like this before.  I only had about an hour to work and I got a decent start on the stream.  I finished the rest from pictures in the studio.

 

Not surprisingly, I didn't produce anything the next day I feel like showing off.  But I did learn a lot and hope to give portraits a try again in the near future.

 

Bill Garrison Workshop and an Award

Earlier this week, I spent 3 days up the Arkansas River in Russellville for a workshop with one of the best painters in the state, Mr. Bill Garrison.  This was Bill's first workshop in quite a few years so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to participate.  The workshop was held at an Arkansas Tech University facility called Lake Pointe.  It was a beautiful location with nice views of Mt. Nebo across Lake Dardanelle.  The campus had many mature trees for shade and to provide balance for the big but distant views.  The first day was a bit damp and cold so it was spent inside with Bill doing demos.  The second day was very seasonable and after a short morning demo, we hit the easels.  I got a nice underpainting and another "finished" piece on the first day.  The second day was much warmer, with highs probably in the mid 80's, with bright sun.  It was windy on the lake side of the point upon which the facility was located.  However, I had my sights set on a low train bridge on the cove side which was sheltered from the wind.  It was an old rusty thing but still strong and in use.  The dull, rusty red made a wonderful counterpoint against the bright green of the trees busting open.  I "finished" that one by around 2 or so and then went in for the rest of the day.

Here's one of them from the first day.  I'm going to make some tweaks to the other two.

Mt. Nebo #1

8X10, Oil on linen panel

SOLD

Buckstaff Baths won a merit award at the Hot Springs Fine Arts Center Regional Show!

A Workshop

I have a whole lot I need to blog about on both my blogs but at the moment, I am without a decent camera so I can't take any pictures until tomorrow night at the earliest.  I am in the process of writing a rather lengthy self-critique of a piece I spent a great deal of time on but which didn't turn out like I had hoped.  I don't think I'll make any corrections to it because I just feel totally spent on it.  But I think there is value at least to myself by writing about it.

In the meantime I wanted to post about a workshop I plan on taking this coming spring.  One of my favorite Arkansas artists, Bill Garrison, is doing a workshop in April.  Below is the flyer.  Perhaps someone out there is interested.  I'm definitely looking forward to it.