Sacred Datura WIP

I love these flowers.  They are gorgeous and grow wild here.  They are poisonous and some people consider them to be weeds, but how can you think that about something so pretty?  This is on 11"x14" Fabriano 140 lb cold press paper.  I usually use Arches, but I'm checking out this paper.  As usual, I had to do some scrubbing out:).  The paper takes it well.  I'm using a little masking fluid in the center of several of the flowers. 

Happy Sunday!

If You Have Thirty Minutes...

This man is delightful!  I have a friend who has taken workshops from him.  He is just as nice in person as he appears to be in this film.  I love the things he says about the medium and about artists.  I also love his art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCSk7UF2B6g

Salt Paintings!

While we waited for layers to dry on our big painting, we painted small salt paintings.  I scanned mine and used Microsoft Publisher to make Christmas cards.

Day 3 of the Workshop

I learned a lot in this workshop.  First of all, I learned that there is a strong possibility that I'm not the Queen of Scrubbing Out.  Yikes!  It's an art in itself!  I'm getting there, though:)  I'm going to post my painting.  It's not quite done yet - more scrubbing out to do and more painting to do, too.  From what I could tell, everyone in the studio came up with a gorgeous painting.  One lady asked if he gives workshops without so much masking.  He said that most of his workshops are just straight painting.  I would like to try one of his  "not so much masking" workshops in the future.  He is a good teacher and a good guy, too!  I just got an e-mail saying that he's thinking about developing an e-course.  I think that's a great idea.

The End of Day Two of the Workshop - One More to Go!

David Smith is the winner of the TWSA 2019 Skyledge Award.  The judges were Linda Baker and Laurin McCrackin.  The reason I'm telling you this is that Laurin McCrackin called David the King of Masking.  After the first day of the workshop, I was quite certain that Mr. McCracken wasn't joking.  The only time I use masking fluid is when there is no other way I can preserve my whites.  The winter scene that we're painting in the workshop has A LOT of masked areas.  You've never masked until you've spent a morning masking 50 million areas - okay, that's a slight exaggeration:)  But I don't want that to scare you off from taking a workshop from David.  He's fabulous.  In addition to being a wonderful artist, he's kind, patient, laid back, funny and expresses his ideas well both in words and demonstrations.

This is probably the only time he'll offer the workshop streaming live.  He said that in the future, he'll  record the workshop so that he can edit and doesn't have to worry about technical problems.  There are 16 people taking the workshop in his studio and 31 of us online.  He's in Eden Prairie, MN.  The workshop goes 3 days from 9 to 4 Central Time with 45 minutes for lunch. 

At the end of today's session, we removed our masking fluid.  This is the first time I've used Pebeo drawing gum.  I like it better than Winsor & Newton masking fluid.  Tomorrow we're going to soften the edges on our masked areas.  He showed us how he does this and I must say he is the king.  However, after all of the mistakes and changes I've made on paintings in the past, I am the Queen of Scrubbing Out.  I have a feeling that I'll take to this quickly:)

He teaches workshops all over the world.  If he offers one near you, I recommend taking it.  You'll have a lot of fun AND learn cool things!  Here's a link to his web page.
https://dsmithfineart.com/
The painting we're doing is the one in the top left corner under "Landscapes".  I'll post mine tomorrow when I'm done.

Happy Saturday!

David R. Smith Workshop

I'm going to take David R. Smith's Winter's Light Workshop online next weekend.  He's also offering the workshop in his studio in Eden Prairie, MN.  As many times as my dad in northern Wisconsin has said, "Come back for Christmas" and I've said, "See you in August", (and we both laugh) I can't bring myself to take the workshop in person in Minnesota in the winter😊.  David said the online artists can paint in their pajamas with canine and feline assistance.  I'm in.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I'm excited.  I've never taken a workshop online before. 

It's a Puzzlement.

I would like to paint these guys.  They're my sister's kids.  I have a scene from Red Rock Canyon in progress and I thought I'd start a small painting of the dachshunds.  I thought I could just draw them right off the bat on a 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper.  I started my drawing and immediately had to erase.  As you know, too much erasing is not very good for your paper:)  I decided to do a couple of drawings in my sketchbook until I get a feel for it and then draw on the watercolor paper.  Anyhow, aren't they precious?