2 Day Still Life Workshop!

What do painters do on Valentines weekend? Paint! And what better a subject than big bunches of vibrating colored flowers! It always amazes me to see what the painters end up with, it's very exciting to see their eye develop throughout the 2 days! The energy in the studio was truly inspiring. What a great group of people!

The workshop started Saturday morning with a short lecture and a full demo of one of the still life set ups. The emphasis being color temperature vibration and their relationships to create form, light and the space around the piece. The idea of the so titled 'still life' workshop is not 'how to paint a still life' but rather USE still life to work from LIFE and study color! I have primarily studied the landscape in the past until a few years ago when by the middle of winter I was just not feeling like going out in the freezing elements of a Minnesota winter but wanted to paint from life. So, I went to the market, bought a bunch of veggies and started studying life in my warm studio. I was hooked and completely curious about what I was seeing and learning from what I used to think of as 'boring'. I was so wrong! I had never seen such delicate degrees of temperature shifts and everything I was seeing was exploding in color in front my eyes. Working on still life has helped me to grow tremendously as a painter and I would highly recommend it to any landscape painter out there! It will only improve your work!

This is the reason I started this particular workshop and what's happening in the studio with these painters is really exciting to see!

-By early afternoon on Saturday they were at their easels eagerly armed with brushes and paint. Most everyone had their drawings and large masses in place by 4:00. Sunday morning we gathered again for a full day of painting and by the end of Sunday they had put in a good weekend and had pieces they could be proud to bring home!