I took a workshop in Pasadena!

I decided to take a workshop,it was just wonderful. Sometimes I get all wrapped up in teaching and creating and I lose touch with what's happening outside my little world. In my sketching class we have explored some negative painting and had a lot of fun. Brenda Swenson has taken it too a new level and I love how exciting and loose her paintings are. We began with a black and white value painting so we could get familiar with value changes before jumping into color. I found the students liked to get too dark too fast and lost some of their mid tones quickly. Because we had done many pieces already I knew where this was going. Everyone,including myself was anxious to jump into color but as I really got into my value study I found it hard to stop when the time was over. The next part of the class was taking a photo and doing a contour drawing, making sure to define the negative shapes. We then worked on triad paint combinations, using all Holbein watercolors and that was very exiting. I haven't used all their colors and found so many new colors I had to have! She also went over how to read the paint tubes which will be so helpful going forward in choosing watercolors in the future. Next year I am going to treat myself again,it was stress free and so relaxing. I hated having to leave before my piece was finished.

Taking classes is wonderful as long as they are a spring board from which to grow,learn and move forward. I listened to many of the students there saying they had taking 5+ classes during the show! Wow,that's a lot to take in and you only get better by taking what you learn home and applying it over and over . Practice is still the answer not millions of workshops. There are invaluable lessons we learn during that private time applying principles whether we are sucessful or not! Someone in class said that it takes 13,000 hours to master something. No one can afford that many workshops so i hope your all painting! I finished my piece when I got home although miserable from my sinus infection,tissues in one hand and a paper towel and brush in the other. Here are my two workshop paintings.







- Desiree