After painting a dozen years with many workshops and classes, I was getting dissatisfied with my work, especially the lack of variety of landscape subjects, e.g. thin trees in winter, dense summer overlapping trees and brush.
I invested in a mentorship of eight afternoons with a painter whose work I admired and whose approach was looser than mine, another direction in which I wanted to go. This was 24 solid hours of one-on-one instruction, demos, and critiques: in short, anything he recommended discussing or demo-ing and anything I wanted to cover.
Warm Spell 8x10 Oil
So far, I found out that:
·
I needed to do
more detailed, larger preliminary pencil thumbnails before painting and really
“nail” the light and shadow of objects like trees clearly
·
I could actually
use black paint and put some intense darks in my paintings, “up the ante” in
terms of drama; one can also mix in red and other hues into the black to vary
it slightly
·
“Use more paint”
has always been my shortcoming and have someone remind me again was important
·
You can paint
think over thin, but also thicker over thick and it works. I was able to lay on
thick paint with all sides of the brush, e.g. thick and sometimes irregular sky
holes; really load the brush and with a light touch dab it on thick; this
allows painting darks over lights!
·
I also needed to
be reminded to preserve my four value planes while introducing different hues
of the same value in each plane; this preserves the big, dramatic shapes which
capture the viewer’s eye
·
I tended to paint
in a high key, i.e. warm palette, and never noticed it. When you are painting,
especially a winter subject, this needs to be a conscious choice not
unconscious or accidental
·
Painting from his
reference photographs was a stretch for me but his keen eye for a composition
made for some well-designed paintings
·
I wanted to make
sure I did some homework and had at least two paintings done at home for the
next afternoon session; this was by turns frustrating or rewarding, depending
on if I had grasped his technique the previous session. No lazy days here.
·
Painting “under
the gun” of an instructor in the studio imparts an urgency to most of us which
usually results in poor drawing, proportions, inappropriate hues, etc. Better
to take your sweet time; it’s results that matter, not speed.
·
Coming to the end
of the mentorship I realize that old habits die hard, still not using enough
paint, etc. but some progress made.
Many thanks to my knowledgeable and
patient mentor Kevin Menck; see his excellent work at http://www.kevinmenck.com/
Cheers
Dan
