GUALALA WORKSHOP FINAL DAY "HEAD & HANDS" DEMO AND SLIDE SHOW

Knowing how to draw and paint hands is critical when painting portraits.  Otherwise you are severely limited in your options.  The last day of the workshop we focus on ways to approach drawing hands and incorporating them into a painting.  This was my demo.  I decided to collage over tyvek since I had never done that before and wanted to see how it would behave.  This was the result.  The slide show is the student work for the day.  Great job!!

We had a wonderful week here in Gualala.  I hope I have the opportunity to come back again to teach.  This is a fabulous community and a charming place to spend some time.  Just south of Point Arena on the Pacific Coast amongst the Redwoods with the Pacific Ocean lapping at the shore.  Ah Paradise!

GUALALA WORKSHOP DAY 1 DEMO & SLIDE SHOW

I have a small but enthusiastic group here in beautiful Gualala, California.  The Advanced Watercolor Portrait workshop is at the Gualala Art Center.  I will take some photos of the grounds and building and post later in the week.  It is a stunning venue.  Day one deals with the opportunity to explore various color ideas.  I have everyone work on a half sheet divided into 5 x 7 segments.  As you can see by the slide show, everyone really had fun with this concept.  I wish my photography was as good as their efforts!  I must do a better job of photographing tomorrow.

At the end of the day, my husband and I sipped wine, sitting in comfy chairs outside watching the sun setting into the Pacific Ocean.  A perfect ending to a wonderful day.

VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE GUALALA ART CENTER AND SURROUNDS!

Here is a virtual tour via slide show of the beautiful Gualala Art Center, situated amid the beautiful Redwoods on the California Coast. The building is modeled after a large lumber mill. Designed, built and maintained by volunteers, the building hosts over 1700 events each year. As you can see, they are working on some project in the front of the building. There was an additional exhibition space inside which I failed to photograph. It was a joy to work in such an inviting environment.

On another note, I received a DVD of my demonstration a few weeks ago for the Valley Watercolor Society. I think I am legally able to duplicate it but will check to make sure. In the meantime, click on the blog title and you will go to the VWS home page. There you will find a photo of me and with another click you can see a magical speedy version of the painting taking shape which you can watch. They have a very techno savvy crew in their society. It was generous of them to send me the DVD.

EXQUISITE CHAPEL IN GUALALA

Sitting in a meadow back off the main road is a romantic little chapel that looks like it jumped out of a fairy tale book! It looks enchanted and definitely is enchanting. Every detail from the interesting shape of the building down to the small collection of shells embeded in the swirl of the ceiling, is beautifully thought out and executed with the finest craftsmanship. A sparkling jewel in the landscape. I didn't have time to paint it (maybe next trip) but I went overboard photographing. I hope you enjoy this slide show. Next time you are in the area, make sure you stop and enjoy this chapel. The door is always open.

STUDENT SLIDE SHOW FROM GUALALA WORKSHOP!

Here is the long awaited slide show. You can see what terrific work everyone did. This was the first time a few of them had even worked in watercolor much less done a portrait. Some pretty brave souls! Tomorrow I will post a slide show of the beautiful Art Center in Gualala and the very unique and beautiful chapel in the town.

I heard from my friend Nancy Standlee. She has joined two new blog sites. One is dedicated to Texas Artists and there are several fantastic figurative painters on that site. The other is featuring abstract artists. Check them out! So much great art, so little time!

blog Daily Painters of Texas - http://dailypaintersoftexas.blogspot.com
blog Daily Painters Abstract - http://dailypaintersabstract.blogspot.com

GUALALA WORKSHOP DEMO: PROFILE

This is the demonstration I did for the workshop for the second painting, a profile. It is on Tyvek paper using Dr. Martin's Hydrus liquid watercolor.

I spent a few hours today clearing photos off my laptop and onto the auxiliary hard drive so I can download all the photos I took last week. Then I can create a slide show. I am trying to move the photos into electronic folders so I can find images by categories. This is taking lots more time than I would like, but I think it is necessary. I will probably save time in the long run by not having to go through all the photos to find the ones I want. It is the curse of the digital age.