'Softly Comes Summer'. 8x10. Pastel
What a great day! I am here in Leesburg Florida attending a pastel workshop with Doug Dawson. I knew from reading Doug's book that he would be a great teacher and I was right! He had many pearls of wisdom to share. I took pages of notes during the morning lecture and demo. I have talked about how we are sometimes not ready to understand some painting concepts. Sometimes it takes hearing it explained in another way before that 'aha' moment. Today the moment came for me about value thumbnail sketches.
I know the importance of doing thumbnails but I don't always do them. And I know now why I haven't. I didn't know how! I know that sounds funny. How hard could it be? Well it turns out I wasn't doing them in the best way. Doug showed us how to use either a ballpoint pen or prismacolor gray markers to do a small value study using 4 values. I will share a step by step demo in a future post! I was so excited about the process that I did several of them. (see photo)
I finished two paintings including the 8x10 in today's post. After lunch Doug helped everyone at their easel. He was very generous with his information and tips and I can't wait for day two!
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Doug Dawson is a wonderful teacher - Your painting is lovely. Thanks for sharing your thumbnail sketches - very valuable to do, yet I often skip this step and have to figure out the value balance later on. Have a great workshop!
ReplyDeleteI took a w/shop with Doug Dawson in Montreal many years ago and loved every minute of it. He is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your class - I also know the value of thumbnails but admit that I don't often do them. Your new painting is so ethereal - one of my favorites!
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