Line Meets light - Summer Workshop

Email me to register!

Sketching 101

sketch from photo - working out composition and light/shadow patterns

sketch from life with graphite wash

sketch before painting "en plein air"

Whether you are working from life or from photo reference, sketching is a wonderful way to improve your "vision." I find that if I take a little time to work out my composition and value pattern with even the simplest sketch, I am better able to express myself in painting. Its easy to be overwhelmed by all the information before us. We see in 3D, but have to render in 2D. As a scene changes, or when we need to edit, its wonderful to be able to refer to your first impression caught in a sketch and keep yourself on course.

Come and sketch with me and V.... Vaughan at Joel's Coffee House in Austin on Saturdays in June (except the 29th). Bring your supplies, or use ours, we offer instruction, demos and hopefully inspire you too with some delicious coffee and truffles (or hot chocolate in my case.) Cost just $20.

Branching Out

Last week, I got to study with the fabulously talented Margaret Dyer at Wenmoh's Ranch not far from Austin. It was my first time using pastels and I learned so much. I haven't really tried other mediums before, I've been so focused on painting in oils for the last 10+ years. So this year I'm trying to allow myself some creative play and challenges. This was a great first step! I really enjoyed this workshop and working with pastels. Its gotten my creative juices flowing and helped me mentally get past the difficulties I'm having with the gallery.

We had models the first two days and the last day we worked from photos which Margaret shared. Here are my last two efforts. From her photos. I've shared more on Facebook if you want to look at "mobile uploads" on there.


Lucky for me, the workshop was only about an hour from Austin and I was able to drive back and forth each day. Margaret is a wonderful teacher and creates the most beautiful paintings. My thanks to Dena Wenmohs for a great workshop. I think everyone had a very nice time and learned a lot. I can't wait to continue to create with pastels here at home.

A Week of Art Boot Camp

I've now realized that Kim English's class is like boot camp. I painted so much my wrist is sore and my head was reeling every night making sleep difficult.

It truly was a great experience. First, Belinda Aber of Wimberley Artists Workshops is running a great school and has some really good teachers on her schedule. I'm thrilled that she is so close to Austin. Wimberley is a small but active community with lots of beautiful Hill Country scenery around. And the artists who attended the workshop were such a pleasure to work with!


Dinner out for our group at Cypress Creek Cafe


Table 2

I learned a lot and can't wait to get back to work next week to continue pushing myself. We literally painted 5 minute poses. That means we tried to paint two models and the background in 5 mins. and when the timer went off, we had 10 seconds to wipe our panels while the models assumed new poses. Kim English can capture the scene, on a medium sized canvas, with no trouble. Its amazing. And what an exercise for us! We eventually graduated to 10 and then 20 minute poses by the end of the week. The 20 minute poses seemed much too long! LOL


One of my 5 minute sessions Friday.


Another 5 minute sessions from Friday.



This was from Tuesday (day 1) - since that day I warmed up my palette a lot and managed to get a little farther like adding some background info.

I can see the difference from the start of the workshop in my own work, but I still didn't make the progress our instructor could make in his demos. All of us seemed to hang in there, complaining a little, but working hard.



This is an example of Kim's 5 minute painting Friday.


I'd highly recommend the exercise! It sure beats my 30 minute studies! That might feel like forever to me now.



This painting is now mine! A 12x14 5-minute demo by Kim English.
Priceless.