OVANES WORKSHOP DAY TWO

before Ovanes painted on it...



and after!

 Well, I got home on Monday evening and have been catching up here. I had to give myself a day at home on Tuesday and had one of those headaches - so I got somewhat unpacked, did some laundry and had to do some preparations for yesterday's class at Capital Art Center.
I've been dying to paint my studies in a larger format, or just repaint them while the lessons I learned with Ovanes are still fresh in my head. But, well - life just gets in the way. This morning it was a dental appointment, grocery shopping and so on....you know what I mean. Perhaps tonight? If only I had a live in cook and housekeeper!
I can't really call this day two because I did not finish with that post, so maybe I should do that first.
Pacific Grove was the most beautiful place, I could not get enough of it. The weather on Friday was cool, cloudy in the morning with the sun peeking through in the afternoon.
Ovanes arrived and walked up to me, as I was freezing and said, "It's a beautiful day to paint!" Okay. And it turned out that he was right. The colors in the water and the sky were amazing and as he painted his demo I could see more and more. It took some time for me to adjust to just staring out at the ocean. It's not something I get to do and I have never painted plein air at the sea.
I froze up some when it was time to paint. I am showing the before and after painting when Ovanes made some adjustments. I quit working on my piece and began to follow Ovanes around as he coached the other students. It is a great way to get the most out of a workshop or class. He looked at my piece and said it was a little busy and needed warm shadows, contrasts of cool and warm. He asked if he could paint on it and I said of course!
I will continue with a demo that Ovanes did that first day.

 



He started with a very thin wash using warm colors.

  

He gave it a few minutes to dry and then started with lots of paint and plenty of color - juicy paint.

  

You want a fairly absorbent surface so the paint will adhere.  Your under painting is very important
Preparation is very important. I think he stresses this because people don't understand that painting is hard enough without having a wobbly unstable set up. He wants your easel and table to be stable and clear of clutter so it will be comfortable. Otherwise it will get in the way of creating....

 

Take your white paper towel and hold it up to the canvas so you don't get the value of the foam too light. Compare it!Remember to consider the "key."

 



Don't think "too much" about local color. Create harmony, "Make it sing."
Compare the value of the water to the rock in the foreground and then compare the water to the rock in the distance. It is  much lighter in value. Value comes first and color comes second...


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