Sunday, August 28, 2011

Liz Wilten Workshop Day 1


Barnacle Rocks - my block-in


Liz doing a demo on Cousin's Island

As I sit here with Hurrican Irene raging outside, it's nice to think back on the wonderful plein air workshop we had last weekend with Liz Wiltzen in South Freeport, ME. I asked Liz to travel from her home in Banff, Canada, to work with a dozen of us, and everyone thought it was an amazing workshop.

Liz began by stating categorically, this workshop is not about painting pretty paintings, you aren't going to get anything you'll want to hang on the wall. It's about exercises to build your skill. And they did, organized to build on one another, they pulled us through the basics of blocking in, design and composition, and use of minimal strokes/time boxing to focus on the essentials.

I learned a lot the day before the workshop, when I took Liz to my favorite painting spots so she could select venues for the workshop. Liz was looking for views with a more defined foreground, mid, and backround, than I had done. We had to work hard to find spots with interesting foregrounds, that weren't going to be covered with high tide during the workshop hours. So now, I have some more good places to paint!

Above is my block-in from the first afternoon, I probably took it a bit too far, but you get the idea. And a photo of Liz doing a demo the second morning at the beach on Cousin's Island.

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