CHANGE ONE THING...

JOEL'S LIGHTHOUSE IN ACRYLIC ON CANVAS

You know the old saying, "if you keep on doing what you are doing, you will keep on getting what you get".  Many people would like to break away from the same old same old but don't know what to do.  I have developed a fun workshop where I share some interesting ideas for making changes that result in new directions for artists to grow in their pursuit of personal expression.  One of the easiest changes is surface.  Here I have changed the surface and the media from the last set of paintings I shared using this image.  I have included all three together for comparison.  I enjoy the challenges of changing media.  If I paint this image again, I will change the scale to huge which will create its own challenges!

"WHAT MOOD DO YOU WANT?"

LIGHT HOUSE 

If you take Mike Bailey's 10-week class through Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society's workshop offering, "Watercolor Beyond the Obvious" he will have you go through your sketchbook and write on a number of pages in big, bold letters "WHAT MOOD DO YOU WANT?"   Why?  Because mood contributes significantly to content and content is what a painting is all about.  If you take the same image (one of the important concepts of the class) and change the mood, you have a very different response, a different message, a different content.  I have painted this same panorama from a scene my son photographed while on a boating excursion up in Washington State near the Canadian border.  By changing the color palette and the intensity, I created two different moods.  The composition and scale also contribute to the mood, but the color is the dominant contributor to the mood in these pieces.

These are small studies on Tyvek paper, in preparation for a larger painting.  

If you are curious about taking the workshop, it starts in January.  Just follow the link and check it out.  I have taken the class four times and it has been the most significant educational influence on my work.   Beginners to advanced painters gain significant value from this workshop.