Student paintings...and mine... from my work shops

Spring greetings! I have every intention of sharing my work with all of you in more regular intervals. Forgive the delay and the need to make this a rather longer than usual journal. Just got a little busier than usual!


I thought you might enjoy seeing some student work. I know I do. Students range from beginners to advanced ,longtime painters. But the truth is, we can all use new ways to look at a scene, promote a feeling and create in watercolor. It is why I continue to take classes as well as teach them. The more I know, the more I realize I don't know it all. I think the same is true for everyone!

Here is a Holiday painting class. Designed for beginners as well as advanced painters!

We were all in a festive mood and the artwork showed it....

January                     Jen's Facial Portrait Work Shop

I took a class on facial portraits in January at the BACA center ( very nice senior center in Round Rock) taught by my good friend and talented artist, Jennifer Polnaszek whose work I’ve long admired. Jen gave individual suggestions to each of 10 of us over 3 weeks in 4 hour sessions and here are some of the results in our class:

Week 1: we all painted the same face...and got 10 different outcomes. All very nice. While there we had to try Round Rock’s famous doughnuts and they were yummy! We treated the class and made new friends.

Week 2:

I decided to paint this adorable little girl playing dress-up. She is the granddaughter of a friend of mine who will receive this as a gift. Just a special mention that any work done in a class setting can't be considered for entry into a show. It is not entirely your own doing.

 Week 3:

 I chose to paint my son for his upcoming birthday.....following her excellent instructions, I kept the highlights, painted softly and added colors gradually. Lessons learned.Just FYI, teeth are difficult and should be non prominent.

                                    First, a good sketch taken from a recent photograph. For his skin color I combined New Gamboge with Alizarin Crimson. Jen gave us several color combinations to consider for the various skintones. My friends from the 620 Paint Group tried different mixes: Beth was painting Asian children and mixed color accordingly; Duke worked on a lovely lady who also needed a different mix; and Carol K had a very fair granddaughter who required yet another mix. Try them all until you find the match.

                                   Deepened shadows and beard highlights with ultramarine blue. Decided to use a sap green background on the darker side only.

Pretty good adaptation of Kevin at 45. I think he favors my Italian side of the family but many see his Dad in him. Good blend. Best of all, he likes this rendering!

March   My one day work shop   Marsha's Matagorda Boats

I borrowed a scene from a work shop I took from my talented friend, artist Marsha Reeves. She very kindly allowed me to use her photos which I provided for everyone. A color and black and white copy is a time saving way to have a value study when beginning. My March13 th work shop at Galleries at Pecan Creek was all about water and sky....here is my finished version of Marsha’s Matagorda Boats.

 Here is the progression from a masked sketch to the finished painting.

We started with the sky pre-wetting only the areas to be painted.Blue lines are Pebeo masking fluid used to preserve our whites.

Tree line was added

These same colors were then carried into the water

Shadowed areas were painted against the boats; boats were colored. Red seemed to be a choice for several but one painter used orange and it was equally impressive.

All colors used were dragged into the water for reflection. Details in the background and on the boats were handled .Such a fun scene to paint and even though none of us was familiar with all the rigging on these fishing boats, we made a believable , although slightly less messy, version of the pier.

Coming up:

Sun April 7th @ The Hive at Hill Country Galleria

Using Brusho on yupo/ all supplies provided $60

Wed May 8th @ Galleries at Pecan Creek

A floral based on my original painting Texas Roadside Beauties $50

 Contact me or the galleries for attendance information and to reserve a spot. Meanwhile, Happy Painting!