"Just Docked"

Just Docked

9"x12" oil on linen canvas panel

Just a quick post to share a painting I recently completed. I took the reference photo when I was in the St. Simons Island area last fall and have wanted to paint this little boat that had just docked before we arrived at this spot to paint. It ended up being too windy to paint that day, so I took down a few notes about the day in my sketch book and took a photo so I could remember what attracted me to this scene while there. I loved the colors of the marsh grasses in the foreground and background, along with the yellow color of the boat itself. Might have to do this one larger! 

Dawn Whitelaw Workshop

Momentary by Dawn Whitelaw

First, NO, this is not my painting! I wanted to share some of the beautiful work of the fabulous Dawn Whitelaw who is coming to my area today to teach a workshop. The workshop is going to be held at a local gallery, Artreach Gallery, in Germantown, TN. If you are an artist or an art patron and have not seen Dawn's work, make sure you click on the link and enjoy the feast for your eyes! 

This will be my third workshop with Dawn, and to be perfectly honest, I will never miss an opportunity to spend time painting with this fabulous artist and most importantly, fabulous teacher. Being a teacher myself, I am more aware than most about what makes a "good" teacher and what does not. As you know if you are one of my regular blog readers, I have enjoyed every workshop I have taken, but some artists make better artists than they do teachers. However, let me emphasize here that Dawn is, indeed, a "great" teacher. She has the gift of being able to inspire, encourage, and lead a student to discover things on their own and develop those problem solving skills that will serve them so well in the future. Aside from all that, she has a gentle spirit and is so encouraging to be around. Her excitement about her work and her teaching is infectious, which makes it even more fun to be around her. If you are an artist, and you ever have the opportunity to study with Dawn, take it!

"Garden Bridge"

Both of the images above are versions of the same scene of tulips at our local museum and gardens, Dixon Gallery and Gardens here in Memphis. They plant thousands of tulip bulbs each year and I made sure last spring to visit and have lots of great reference photos to paint from that visit. It is a fun subject when days are short and gray in winter, even though we have had no snow or really cold weather this year.

In my mentoring with Lori Putnam, I am working on edges and paint application along with composition and all of the other aspects that make up a good painting. I am having so much fun and we have such a fabulous small group of artists that I look forward to it each time we meet! Plus, I am positive it is the first time in my life I can't wait to get home and do my homework! Lori is challenging us and helping each artist work on their specific goals in painting. Fun times!