Workshop, Third Day

Bowl of Cherries 15x11

I haven't finished the painting for the second day so I'm skipping to the third day painting which I just completed. I've always looked at crystal bowl paintings as just too detailed for me but once I got into it I must admit, I got hooked. It's amazing that just with leaving white in the right places you give the illusion of sparkling glass. I think I may have to try this again with my own set up.

The background was done the same way as in the previous pear painting except that this time I used silver gesso to stamp on the background with added dark greens. I think I would be less heavy handed with the silver next time around.

A special thanks goes to Anne Abgott who was so generous with her time and supplies during our workshop. You can find her at http://www.anneabgott.com

Second Workshop Painting

Two Pears 7 1/2" x 11"

In this painting we used what we learned about mingling colors. The pears were painted first using a yellow as the first color and then adding the appropriate colors while still wet. As long as the paper is wet you can add and blend the colors until you get what you want. The blemishes on the pears were added last with thick paint while there was still some dampness. Since the paint was applied without much water it didn't make a back-run or blossom. That was really a revelation to me. The back ground was made by stamping gold acrylic gesso liberally with a rubber stamp. After this was dry, we applied fairly thick paint the consistency of heavy cream in alternating shades of red and mineral violet for the really dark. These mingled together and I think made a really nice effect. When that was dry we could go back with a slightly damp paper towel and rub over the gold to reveal it's shine. We also added the shadows of the pears.

Workshop with Ann Abgott

Our first lesson with Ann Abgott was to learn her method for putting down color. She prefers to mingle her colors on the paper instead of premixing them in the palette. This gives a very nice, lively affect especially with shadow shapes as this painting shows. We worked on 300# Arches paper with wet puddles of paint which, when applied to the paper mingled in quite a beautiful way. I could go into this painting and darken the shadows and define the man and bench more clearly but since this was an exercise in mingling the colors I think I shall leave it as it is. I think I will incorporate this technique into my paintings from now on. More of what we did in the workshop will follow later. Wouldn't it be fun to paint a turkey this way?