Oil Painting Workshops added!

Two intermediate oil painting one-day workshops have been added in January, 2010! Both workshops will have supplies, but if the students already have favorite oil paints and brushes, please feel free to bring them to class. The classes will be located at The Next Picture Show gallery in Dixon, Illinois.

The classes are Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 and Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010. Both classes will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bring a lunch if you'd like or just step out to one of the little restaurants just steps away! Snacks will be provided.

Since I paint with water soluable oils, I will be demonstrating with them. However, the class will be provided with traditional oils to work with.

Class size is 8 people MAX. To get complete information on the workshops go to my new WORKSHOPS/CLASSES page on my website. Each class will have a link that will take you directly to The Next Picture Show's class signup page.

It's a blur...

"Driving Home," oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
12" x 24"

For being unemployed, I'm awfully busy. But I'm doing stuff that's actually interesting.

Getting a lot more painting done. Not posting much because, well, it is Christmas time and some folks wouldn't be surprised, would they?

Today I did finish a smallish landscape in oils. Kind of a fun painting. Forgive the photo. I finished this around 3:30 and the light in my place gets a bit wonky and causes glossiness on parts of the work.

I took this photo when I was driving north from Peoria after a food show I attended (for my place of previous employment). Took some back roads and the light was just starting to get low. Surprised I wasn't pulled over because my car tends to weave when doing drive-by photos. As with most of my work, I covered the canvas in cad red first to create a warm glow through the following layers of paint. You may see some of that read peeking through.

I will be posting this on my etsy art shop page and on my website. Be sure to stop by both places as I have updated them. On my website, I have added a new section called "Workshops/Classes." My upcoming classes are now listed.

Acrylic Workshop #1: DONE!

Starting out. Laying in the first layer of colors. I made them all cover the canvas in cad red. I do that a lot and since I was the teacher...I got to be the boss! (Notice that Santa stopped by ... in the back)

They're getting into it now.

Dawn is getting near the finish line. Looking very good.

The class and me with our works of art! Not bad, eh?

Well, another milestone for me today. I thought I would never teach a class or workshop. Basically I just paint and really don't know how I do it, I just paint for goodness sake!

But, times change and it was time to conquer another fear. And as most fears go, once the fear is faced, it really not as big a deal as you think it was. Weird huh?

Anyway, the class was full to capacity. Only wanted 8 maximum students. It's hard for me to concentrate on too many questions at once. Also, I decided that a still life in beginning acrylics would be easy to sketch out with simple forms. So, the whole class and I worked on the same photo that I took. Some folks teach class with everyone doing something differently. To avoid my head from exploding, I chose to work on one simple subject.

The class ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and almost everyone finished their painting!!! They taught me more than the other way around. Pretty cool, huh?

Next workshops: Jan. 16 and Jan. 23. Will probably be in oils. Stay tuned.