Secret Oil Painting Workshop Part 2

Why “secret”? Because I don’t advertise and recruit. . . it is an insider thing for my advanced drawing students. I don’t believe I know enough to truly teach anyone how to oil paint. Instead, I view myself as one beggar showing a few other beggars how to find bread.

Let’s see how these other beggars did. . .

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M wanted to paint the Tetons from a photo she snapped on one of her many road trips. I painted it first so she could see what sorts of colors and brush strokes. (Mine is slightly visible behind the photo on the little easel on the right.) Then, she was off and running, just looking at the photo and mixing her colors from the primaries. She needs another session or 2 on this canvas to complete it. Phooey – I was hoping she would buy mine from me, Just messing with you, M. I am PROUD of you!!

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A chose a photo that I found a little intimidating. She wanted a black background which I knew how to help her with. She has a great eye for proportion, knows what chicks look like and is a bit perfectionistic. These are great qualities to paint in a realistic manner. This is after 2 sessions, and I think 1 more might do the trick. Isn’t this wonderful??

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L is amazing. She has painted with me several times, and is off and running. She paints on her own at home, and has plans to give these second two paintings as Christmas gifts this year. The orange wants more texture, but the pear might be finished. There is no stopping this woman!!

Secret Oil Painting Workshop

I’ve been oil painting since March 8, 2006, which doesn’t seem like enough experience to be teaching. However, several of my drawing students have asked me to conduct an oil painting workshop. I began doing this a few years ago, but only for my advanced students.

The participants need to understand proportion, perspective, values and my manner of teaching.. I need to understand where they are in their abilities, and how they learn. 

Oil painting is much harder than pencil drawing because of the added elements of color mixing, all the ingredients to manage and the less than cooperative, wet, flippy brush, but if a student has the understanding I listed above, they can achieve impressive results in just a few painting sessions. Four of the five participants had painted with me before, and we did two sessions together this year.

We work from photos as a matter of ease and convenience. Plein air or using real life set-ups doesn’t fit our space, abilities, or level of experience. I want my students to have success and to be happy with their results rather than leave a workshop feeling as if they wasted their time and money. I am too familiar with that sort of result and want better for my students.

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About 2 years ago, E asked me if she was ready to oil paint. I told her that she wasn’t. She kept working very diligently at her drawing skills, and this year she was ready to paint. We started with a simple subject – easy shape, few colors to mix. This is how it looked at the end of her second session. This photo looks a bit washed out compared to the painting because it is wet and shiny. But, still. . . pretty impressive! Her choice of background color truly complements the orange, since blue is the complement (opposite on the color wheel) of orange. Hey, Mr. Favorite Customer, aren’t you proud of your wife, and aren’t you glad she didn’t listen when you told her to give up on drawing lessons??

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J pulled out this canvas she had started last year and dabbed at it without any photo reference. I dug through my cat photos on hand and couldn’t find the one I was looking for. We found one that helped with cat face proportions, and then as she was packing to leave, she flipped her canvas over and found the very photo I had been seeking! It was how she started this painting a year ago, and then we both forgot. The second session of painting was more fruitful. Lots of life in those eyes!

 

 

 

 

 

Margie’s Sunflower

My drawing students do excellent work. I encourage each one to choose something she loves. because she will be looking at it for a lonnnnng time. (or he – currently I have 2 guy students). They each have subjects that interest them, and it is so fun to help them figure out how to best portray those subjects.

Margie has been with me for perhaps a year, perhaps less. She has drawn and painted in different classes and situations for many years. Hard to believe she thinks she needs lessons, but I’m happy to help her

Sometimes people take drawing lessons because unless they have 1 hour per week set aside for the purposes of drawing, they don’t pick up their pencils. I’m guessing that’s the reason Margie takes lessons.

Do you agree with my assessment?

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More Secret Oil Painting Workshop

Here are more photos and commentary from the secret oil painting workshop that I gave for my advanced drawing students.  There are perquisites to taking drawing lessons – I lend photos, do scanning and photoshop prep for turning drawings into cards, and give secret oil painting workshops, among other benefits.

We decided that the fruit on the left must be a pluot. This painter was not happy with her painting but the rest of the group thinks it is a fantastic first layer, because IT IS!!

This painter photographed the Tetons while on a road trip. I borrowed a photo to paint from, then lent her my painting because often it is just easier to work from other people’s paintings than a photo or live scene.

This one looks a little weird because the paint was so wet that it really caught the flash on the camera. This painter is very brave – I suggested just picking one pomegranate to paint, and she chose to do all three. This is the first time in at least 40 years that she has oil painted, and this painting will be gorgeous!

This painter is used to extremely detailed pencil drawings and is a little doubtful that her orange will look good. She really dislikes the color of the shadow side of the orange, so next time we will mix something that pleases her.

Oil painting is a ton of work, so I want my students to be very happy with the results. I also have told them that anyone who doesn’t like her painting or can’t finish it can pass it to me and I will complete it for her.

See? Perqs!

Secret Oil Painting Workshop

That’s right – SECRET oil painting workshop! I’ve only been an oil painter since March 8, 2006, learning by guess and by golly on my own, experimenting and bumbling along, taking and quitting a couple of classes, reading up, asking questions of other painters, watching some videos. What I know, which is precious little, I am willing to share, but only with my drawing students.

Why only them?

I know my students’ abilities and their individual methods of learning, and they know my abilities and style of teaching. The secret oil painting workshop is just for those who are interested (Duh) and for those who are comfortable enough with their drawing skills and the terms we use and techniques we practice.

Because I don’t give drawing lessons in December, we have several Tuesdays to work with. We will do two, but the dates don’t matter, because it is a Secret painting workshop. Two days are necessary because of the slow drying time involved with oil paints, and besides that, it is hard to focus on a project for enough hours to get ‘er dun.

There were 7 students, and at one point I said, “I FEEL LIKE A WAITRESS WITH TOO MANY TABLES!” Lovely people, each one, and a privilege to share what I know about painting. So often I have to say, “I don’t know but I’ve heard you can do this, that or another thing.” Just bumbling along together, and look what we achieved!

After seeing the photo on the digital camera, this painter commented, “I like my wrist”.

We thought this painter had cut out a photo of a lemon and decoupaged it onto a black canvas! Then she began enlarging it, and next week will be adding some sort of a shadow or something in addition to deepening the colors. Next year I will probably be taking painting lessons from her.

The pomegranate looks distorted because of the angle of the camera. The Sequoias need another layer or two and the orange just wants one more layer. Can you tell my students borrow my photos? 😎

To be continued tomorrow. . .

I Love To Teach People How to Draw

One afternoon per week, I am in Exeter at the Courthouse Gallery of the Arts. Each hour on the half hour, four people come in for their weekly drawing lesson. Each person works at her own pace on her own picture. Or his. We have a great time, and people really learn to draw!

The gallery just got new wood floors in the workshop room and it is beautiful.

We go to great lengths to understand what we are drawing. In spite of having set up the scene and taking and editing multiple photos, Elainea and I found it helpful to have these creatures here in person to really inspect. If we can’t see it, we can’t draw it.

Mae is more than ready to have the background finished on her rose. See? Her hands are flying!

Mary is working on the layout.  (I know – it looks as if she is picking the longhorn’s nose.) To draw, we have to know where everything belongs and get the shapes and sizes right. Proportion is everything.

I teach both adults and pre-adults. As long as you are at least in 6th grade, you can take drawing lessons from me.

Finishing touches are important. Celeste has worked very diligently on this for quite awhile, and it shows. This is FABULOUS!

I love to teach people how to draw. It is all about seeing correctly, and then learning the steps. Then we just inch along, piece by piece, step by step.

Another Secret Oil Painting Workshop

There are benefits to taking drawing lessons from me. One of them is that I offer an occasional oil painting workshop to my drawing students.

(There are a lot of links in this post. So many things reminded me of past posts. If you click on any of them, they will open in a new window, so you won’t lose this post before you finished reading it.)

What? If someone takes lessons, they are offered the opportunity to take more lessons?

Yep. You got it in one.

Shereen is just as careful in her painting as she is in her pencil drawing. This painting will need more layers, but has a very good start. You can see Shereen’s pencil drawing of boots here.

A began this painting in December when I gave 2 other secret oil painting workshops. She thought this wasn’t looking too good, but I betcha when she lets it quietly mull in a corner and then returns to it in a week, she will be as impressed with it as you and I are.

J painted with me in the first workshop and had such great success that she ventured out into new territory for both of us. The lighthouse will happen when the water is dry. Hmmm, what is dry water? Never mind. But did you know that blue is God’s favorite color? I decided this when I was on a ship to Alaska last summer.

L is prolific and dedicated and usually gets things right the first time. I may have been a little too busy at the other table when she began this painting, but when it dries, she’ll be able to deepen the colors.  Aren’t you impressed that she can paint this just using the primary colors? (Pay no attention to the tube of brown or the tube of black – just an optical illusion or something. . .)

She almost finished this pumpkin and has plans for the Sequoia.

And Mary? She snuck out before the camera appeared! She’s painting a beautiful orange.

You Can Do THIS With Colored Pencils?

If my drawing students learn to draw with graphite pencils – i.e. see proportions, understand values (the darks and lights), understand hard and soft edges, and make the tools do what they intend for them to do, then my drawing students who want to can use colored pencils.

Colored pencils (mis)behave differently than graphite pencils. I’ve heard plenty of colored pencil artists say the reason to use colored pencils instead of paint is C O N T R O L.

Colored pencils require many many layers, and it hurts my wrist to use them. However, many of my advanced students choose to use them, and in spite of my ouchy wrist, I can help.

It may appear to you as if Mae has copied her photo as efficiently as a Xerox machine. I can assure you that she has done a fabulous job of interpreting the photo and adjusting it so the drawing makes more sense than the photo. She pays a great deal of attention to detail and chooses what to eliminate and what to enhance.

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May is using Polychromos by Faber Castell. These seem to be the highest quality for the price that I’ve used so far. They are oil based, made in Germany, and last a long time. They are a little fatter so they don’t fit in our normal sharpeners. They are also a little hard to find if you just want to buy them one at a time.

Prismacolor used to be my favorite. I learned their colors beginning with a set of 12 that my Aunt Shirley gave me when I was in 5th grade. They are wax based,  made in the USA,  and break easily, which is exasperating. They are readily available in sets or in one-sies, and can be repaired in the microwave (but don’t tell the company – they don’t take responsibility for the breakage and blame the pencil sharpeners, not the rough handling before they arrive in your hands.) I noticed they are now referred to as “soft-core”, probably a response to all the complaints!

So, yes, you CAN do this with colored pencils (after hours and hours of practice!)

Beautiful Pencil Drawing

Every Tuesday I teach people how to draw at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter. Been doing it for 20 years or so. You can learn about it here. Drawing Lessons

My drawing students are wonderful. They work hard, and they learn and they do beautiful drawings.

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This beautiful woman drew her beautiful granddaughter. It is her first portrait, which is one of the hardest subjects to tackle. She has been drawing with me about 2-1/2 years, and honestly, she had a bit of a head start because she used to touch up portrait photos. But that doesn’t mean this wasn’t hard – it was hard! Everything is hard, so pick something you love, because you’ll be staring at it for a long time.

P.S. Today is my 6th Blogiversary. I still haven’t run out of things to write about!

Wonderful Drawing Students in My Life

For twenty years I’ve taught people how to draw. This happens on Tuesday afternoons at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter.

During the Studio Tour on the weekend, a former drawing student named Kelly came by. She still draws and paints and has a job as a receptionist for a chiropractic office. She sells some of her work, and is a wonderful person and fine artist.

Current student Wendy Miller came by the studio with her daughter. I met Wendy on a Studio Tour a number of years ago. She was hoping to interest her daughter in art, and ended up taking lessons herself. She is an outstanding artist who had her own show at the Courthouse Gallery last summer. Her work is so wonderful that I bought a piece.

The daughter of my first adult student came by. Her Mom was a wonderful artist and a wonderful person. She left this planet last month. We miss her and were blessed to have her in our lives.

Meanwhile, here is a look at the work of one of my wonderful students. Char has a wonderful sense of humor. She is wonderful at drawing.

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Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! I feel like Lawrence Welk.