"And Baby Makes Three", oil painting from life, 6 x 8"Well I am back from 2 weeks holiday at our cottage -a bit cool and rainy at times, but a good rest and I didn't paint at all. Guess I needed a rest!
The above is the first completed painting that I did at the Carol Marine workshop I attended near Sylvan Lake. I did this after Monday's class while sitting at my campsite -photo at the top. The workshop was FANTASTIC and I learnt a ton -not only the things that Carol was teaching directly, but also things I realized on my own as I was doing my own work and reflecting upon it at the end of each day(sometimes these were reminders of things I already knew, but forgot to think about). I thought I would share these things with you, one each day, just to make sure you keep coming back! Before I do that though, I want to plug Carol's workshops. She is a very giving and open instructor, and she paints a mean still life. I will try to study with Carol again next year -you can only learn what you are ready for, building upon those things you already get -so I should be ready for the next lessons after I incorporate the ones I learnt this time. This is definitely one workshop teacher that you want to study with -her blog is great but it is so much better to actually watch her work and be able to ask her questions during the demo (she handled this really well, it is a very difficult thing to talk while you work, especially when you have a bunch of people watching!)
Lesson #1: I think the overriding lesson that I learnt at the workshop was to take pride in who I am as a painter and as a lifelong learner. I will never be able to paint like Carol, but I can paint like me! This might sound obvious, but if you are a painter, I know you can relate. I CAN learn techniques that will help me make my work better, so trying to work the way Carol does for this workshop helped me learn those techniques. Its up to me to put them into my own work after the workshop is over.
Enjoy!
I really like what you are saying about when you take a workshop, you study the techniques that the instructor is bringing across, but you don't need to BE that artist, you want to BE YOURSELF. Well said, and something that many artists who take workshops forget. I am attending one of Carol's workshops next year in Sedona, and I am not a still life painter, but I think I can "get" something from the immediacy of the way she works, and the way she makes you boil it down to seeing the lights, darks and shapes.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, and I enjoyed looking at your landscape work, as well as what you accomplished whilst you were at the workshop with Carol.
xo, Lisa Skyheart Marshall