Formal Training at Long Last

Finally have decided that I'm at a point where I need some one on one instruction. I've learned a lot, and am grateful to, the online classes I have taken, but there's only so much feedback you can get from these formats.

Discovered that there is an Atelier in my backyard, so to speak and have signed up for two classes with Tom Semmes.  Yesterday's class already has shown me this was the right move for me.

So if you are interested, you can follow along with me week to week.......

Class 1, Intro to Painting.

Tom prefers to teach in oils and like so many teachers says "because it's easier". I mostly paint in acrylics because I do NOT find oils easier, so now is my chance to learn why.

No paints came out in this class, though, as he begins (after all the housekeeping info any new class requires) by teaching us to see...shapes...darks...lights...not THINGS. Charcoal sketching a setup by "painting" the negative spaces/shapes. Then the THINGS appear.

This was the setup:

First sketch:

I began the sketch with that little trapezoid of light between the copper pot and the white vase. So then I ran out of room for the flowers! But he showed me with matboard corners that would still be a good way to paint it. Notice the well defined edges on the vertical box, because on the next sketch he gave me an aha! moment.

Second sketch:

This time we STARTED with the flowers and worked on the relationship of shapes between the objects. The AHA! moment he gave me was that he wiped the edge of the vertical box to make a lost edge and it demonstrated immediately how that made the light top of the box really pop and the whole thing became more interesting. Then he darkened the shadows on the vase and pot (those bold dark lines) to demonstrate how the lights/darks MAKE the painting. 

This is gonna be FUN. 

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