The workshop week was an incredible experience and I enjoyed having Vera stay with me.  On Saturday we had the final critique and I left early to open my gallery for the day. 

More later.................

OOOh so wanted to upload last night but couldn't get there/here from my laptop.  I"m home, waiting for Vera to get off the phone with her hubby John so we can go to dinner.  I made a photo album so I'll try to upload it here and add comments....

ok.  here they are.  The Mendocino Keyhold was FRIDAY afternoon after lunch.  It was wAAAAY too cold to go back to the Druid Grove, so I took my own car out to Heeser and painted this in about 1.5 hours.

 Then I returned to the Druid Grove and finished this tree and it's more an exercise in foliage than anything else.  It was definitely "an exercise" and it was a "pan in" piece, and not something I would normally want to paint.  Albert Handell has the amazing eye and he can be in front of the most incredible view on the planet and he'll look at riprap or a few rocks at his feet or a tree in a copse, and say, "now THAT turns me on!" and he'll paint that and it'll be a masterpiece! 

 These rocks with driftwood were from Tuesday at Caspar Beach  when I was trying so hard to "pan in" on something.  It's a 9x12 pastel.

And on Wednesday, we went to Noyo Harbor.  Windy and cold where it was suggested we go paint because Albert was going to be painting the last building on the row and I wanted to watch him, but I guess my nature has a restless issue and I couldn't just sit there in the cold wind watching someone else paint.  I tried to get out my watercolor/pen/ink kit but it was too cold even for that, so I got my pastels and walked a little inland to this tree.  This effort is after AH suggested I work up the water on the right (and left) and make the tree dive off the board on the left (there had been a rock there) and it works.  

 This is possibly the best piece all week.  Up close and personal; at the Druid Grove on Thursday.  I spotted this rotting log and caught the light with my camera because the sun moved before I finished and changed all the lighting patterns.  It was interesting that I was able to use artistic license to complete this painting.  Ask me about it if you care.

So Thursday when I finished the log, I painted this view of the headlands and AH commented that maybe that larger rock on the left margin didn't need to be there; otherwise it's a pretty good piece.  I can make that rock disappear in the prints!!!  and please tell me how many faces you can see in the silhouette of the cliffs!------------------


I'm tired.  We're going to the hotel.  Tomorrow morning (Saturday) is the final critique and I'm back in the gallery by 11.

Oh ho hum.  Wednesday morning we met at 9 at the Harbor Lite Lodge and Albert Handell did an oil demo that was just beautiful.  A tree.  He started it with an umber wash over the whole canvas... about 20x14... and I took copious notes.  This demo really motivated me to experiment with some oil paintings when this workshop is over.  My friend Pat Peterson recently delivered to me a box of his mother's art supplies.  She was a wonderful oil painter, and I have her tubes of paint, brushes, canvasses and some nice frames.  I'm really all set.  now I know what to do and how to do it.  Excited about this.

So, today instead of going to Mendocino to the Druid Grove, as planned (and announced to some people) we went down the hill to the harbor.  The instruction was to look for REFLECTIONS and that Albert was going to paint Heron's Restaurant and would be arriving around 2:30. 

Vera drove us down the hill; we had lunch at Corinnes with several other people from our group, and then set out.  Right next to the restaurant was a wonderful derelict ship and a shack and some other nice subjects; but we wanted to paint near the master, so went in that direction. 

SHEESH... It was quite windy and very chilly (put on sweaters, up hoodie, on with jackets), so after  whining about that for awhile, we returned to the area around the restaurant, found a great spot for a PAN IN item with reflections for me (warm in the sun, no wind, removed sweater, hoodie, jacket); and something similar for Vera, and we set up our easels.  Just as pastel hit paper, we were asked to move so a boat could receive fuel via a hose that went right through where we were sitting.  So

we packed up and decided that we'd go watch Albert paint.  We went to where he had set up and was painting a building (no reflections - another frustration for me) and it was cold in the wind (clothes on again) and watched for a few minutes and I went to get my sketchbook but just couldn't sit there, so I decided to paint something, so I asked Albert what he would recommend for me to paint that was a PAN IN and he said "go paint anything... the window, whatever, just go up there and find something.  anything"  So I packed up my stuff, schepped it about 10 yards and came to a small eucalyptus tree and liked the way it came out of the riprap rocks and set up to paint the tree.

I had to watch for doggy bombs as I set up my easel and a bag of supplies.  no chair, table, or other accessories this time; I began to paint the tree with a pink under painting of pastels washed over with alcohol.  As I proceeded, my frustration increased and I was close to tears.  A woman came by and said how beautiful it was and I asked her to please go away.  Then a toothless fellow came by and told me what a wonderful artist I was and to keep working at it because I had some real potential.  He then asked if I knew if there was a Starbucks in town. 

Relieved to know that I had some talent!!!, I contined to work on my tree.  No pix today to show you, so sorry, but I'll try to get to that tomorrow.  It's exhausting, all this dressing and undressing and hauling my supplies from hither to yon and back again.  And I don't know where we'll be painting on Thursday. 

Welcome back to my blog!  I'm in a 5-day Master Mentoring workshop with Albert Handell; 14 students of merit (especially one gentleman from PA) and I believe I've found someone who will actually help me to improve my style, and business practices.  We'll see!!!

Monday was a lovely demo at the conference room in Fort Bragg at Harbor Lite Lodge.  I was a bit frustrated since the subject was a clump of palm trees, but what I learned was about pastel application, composition, and about eliminating unnecessary foofoo (my term) that I've found so difficult.  I guess it really means to FOCUS.  I'm going to try to do just that this week.  


Guess I'm pretty tired (Tues) 'cause I can't hardly figure
out how to do all this computer stuff.

Anyway, here's my first piece on Monday in the ebbing fog.  It's the island at Russian Gulch.  He said it was PRETTY GOOD and that's good.  Then he saw the next one of the white logs (below) and suggested I "PAN IN" because he felt that was my strength.  Obviously, I failed in my FOCUS attempt, but I did manage to leave out the huge bridge in the background, and the kayak with 2 people who kept going into the little cave!

  Next I made this closeup 

of some logs that were actually quite far away and to the left of the island, down below me.  I ended up with a painting about a rock, didn't I?  Well, with this information, AH told me to PAN IN... so onward to Day 2...

so today, Tuesday, I was at Caspar Beach from 12-6 (yes, we're pretty tired, and over exposed but not burned because of big hat and sunscreen.  I focused on these rocks with a piece of driftwood.  He checked me out once during the day; asked for "more" on the wood and more colors on the rocks.  Not sure if I even took a later photo, but this is what I spent most of the afternoon working on.

It's a process, for sure.  I think tomorrow I'll try to watch him on location.  He'll be doing an oil demo in the morning at the hotel.  We're going to the Druid Grove tomorrow.

   

So on the way back home, I had Vera, my lovely chauffeur, drive us by the Druid Grove in time for the sunset.  It was so amazing, and so red (almost heart shaped) but unbelievable.  This is the actual color!!!  I couldn't have made this up on a bet!!!  This made up for the 46 degree mornings and the wet gray fog we've been experiencing. 

 Come back soon for more great stuff!  Albert is a genius!  I'm seriously hoping to tap into some of that!  and Jeanine, his "significant other" is charming, pleasant, helpful, and a wonderful artist too!