Adventures in Paint & Pastel

I had felt long overdue to attend an oil painting workshop to challenge my skills.  With the following goals in mind:  1.) an artist who's work knocked my socks off  2.)  was a plein air workshop  3.) could push me out of my comfort zones and ruts  4.) wouldn't cost me an arm and leg to attend, and  4.) was no longer than 3 days.  With so many workshops out there to chose from, this past summer, I chose Josh Clare.  His work fit all my criteria and the location being just 2 hours away from my home was perfect.  The Franciscan Life Process Center  in Lowell, Michigan was a great location, enabling participants to stay on the grounds during this 3 day study.  I believe the Franciscan Life Center will be the new "midwest hub" for artist's workshops in this country.  Its coordinator Kathy Bechtel is doing an awesome job of bringing top artists from around the country to teach in mid Michigan. Check out the 2015 line up of workshops - WOW!  I'll be back there for sure!

Josh Clare's plein air demo.

What I gained from Josh was his fresh and direct approach of laying on paint, as well as his simplicity of shapes and appreciating the understated beauty of grayed color.  Simplicity is always better and stronger of a statement.  Lay it in and leave it - sounds simple right? For some reason, I needed some sort of permission or validation to do that, instead of including too much information.  Just seeing it done well by another was validation in itself. 

     

The 2 pics above are Josh's paintings.  The one to the right was done one evening after the days workshop.  He said the 5 (or was it 6?) most important elements to a painting are value, value value, value and value!  His strong work is testament to that.   I would consider him more of a tonalist than a colorist, and his values were spot on every time!  Josh is one of those people that is such a great talent at such a young age, I can hardly image what he'll be producing years from now.  And on top of it all, he's a genuinely humble person.  A rare combination indeed.  

The 3 day landscape workshop ended with a portrait demo of the very talented Kevin Beilfuss.  The double benefits of a workshop are all the other talents artists you get to meet.  We all know that the creative process is a lonely one, so opportunities like this to meet like minded talented folks is inspiring.

 

"The Silo Study" 8x10

  

                                     Field Study 9x12 oil

Above are a couple of the workshops efforts.  "The Silo" is day #1 and "Field Study" is day #3 - a little looser eh?  These were lessons for me in loosening up, simplifying shapes and graying down the greens.  One of my favorite color intensities is grass being back lit, so I can easily over do the greens and bring that intensity into more situations than is needed. 

       

  "Across the Field" 4"x 6" oil - SOLD!                    "Backlit Trees" 4"x 6" oil.   

           

After the days workshop, many went out to paint in the evening.  I did the mini sketches above.

I find workshops are rarely the time we produce our best work.  Its more of a time to stretch ourselves and try new things.  So when I got home, I went painting with friends, with my new inspiration and fresh perspective within.  The painting "Cat Tails" below is the result.   It's a gray overcast day in Michigan (we have many of these!) right before rain, and my goal was to celebrate the subtle beauty of the grayed greens with simplicity.

 "Cat Tails" 8" x 10" oil.