Day 7 - Returning to Reality

Today we got up for our last sunrise walk in Myrtle Beach for this trip.

At breakfast we ran into some of the artists taking part in the second week of workshops at Springmaid Watermedia Workshops. I hope their week is as great as we had.

Here are a few assorted sketches I did at points during this trip. There wasn't time for sketching during the workshop days.

I did get to sketch my sister, Mickey, in bed at the hotel on the trip down when we stopped in Emporia, Virginia.

On the last day of the class while everyone was finishing up or packing up I did a pencil sketch of Ted from two different positions and Caroline finishing her painting.

We are in Fredericksburg, VA on our way home and we will be returning to reality tomorrow.

Judy Morris Workshop - Day 5

The sunrise photos I am posting are from the actual morning I post but the text about the workshop is really a day behind because it takes so long to put it together. This morning was our last in Myrtle Beach and we woke to rain, so we didn't get to walk on the beach at all. I took this photo from the balcony of our room.

The final day of our workshop with Judy Morris arrived. For part of the morning she finished offering suggestions for how to complete our paintings. Later she also did a silver leaf demo. She loves using it in paintings. Many of her paintings are mixed media and it is fun incorporating different media in our paintings. We also had enough time to work on our own paintings with the hopes of finishing them. I worked to get mine done.

Here is a photo of me busy at work.

Here are the original two I was working on as they look in their mats. We brought standard size mats for our paintings, but I couldn't get both sides of the border to show in the opening. So I matted it so the border shows on one side and the bottom.

I had also brought along a painting I had started after the first time we took a class with Judy Morris at Springmaid two years ago. It needed a bit more work, so I pulled it out and completed it today.

It was sad to have the class end. Everyone was so into what we were doing and I know Judy had a lot more wisdom to impart. We made so many new friends and had so much fun with the people in our class as well as the other classes. We all stay at the same resort and have 3 meals a day and cocktails together each night. You become really good friends!

The Springmaid Watermedia Workshop photographer came around to each class today and took a class photo. Judy is in the center holding the sign that says, "LET IT DRY!" That was pretty much our motto for the week. I am in the blue behind and to the right of Judy in the photo, and my sister, Mickey is next to me.

Tonight is Gallery Night. Each student mats their work to be hung upstairs in the Conference Center. We meet up there at 6:15 for cocktails and appetizers while we walk around and view all the work. It is always so amazing to see the amount of beautiful work that is created in one week. Then we head down to the restaurant for dinner, and then back upstairs for socializing and dancing. I will post some of the gallery night photos tomorrow.

Dinner

I guess I am becoming one of those sketchers who sketches their meals. lol My Wed night sketch group leader suggested that everyone sketch their dinner because of the snowy conditions in NY the other day. I was on the road in Roanoke, VA so I sketched my steamed shrimp, hush puppies (a dead giveaway that I was south of NYC) and a sweet potato...very healthy because I didn't touch the hush puppies. For those of you who don't know what hush puppies are they are deep fried corn bread pieces.

Here are a few photos from my trip so far.

We visited my nephew, John, in GA. Here we are at the river. Left to right are my sister Mickey, my nephew John, my sister-in-law Joan and me.

Mickey, my brother Joe, sister-in-law Joan, and me.

Mys sister Mickey met a long-time internet friend, Angel, for the first time in Blue Ridge, GA. Angel lives in GA.

Mickey and I arrived in Myrtle Beach, SC for the workshop we are taking.

We hit the beach for a walk...beautiful weather!

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 16 - Standing Tall

Today is Day 16 of Leslie Saeta's "30 Paintings in 30 Days." If you want to see the rest of the paintings by the other artists you can find them here.

http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com

Also if you would like to vote for your favorite on Sea Dean's blog you can find it here.

http://paintamasterpiece.blogspot.com

Today's painting was done from a photo I took on the beach one morning in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Standing Tall by Joan Tavolott

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 14 - Golden Glimmer

Next up is my painting for day 14 of the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge with Leslie Saeta.

If you want to see some of the other paintings done for the challenge here is the link.

http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com

Don't forget to vote too. http://paintamasterpiece.blogspot.com

This is a bit of a different palette for me, but I like monochromatic paintings. This was done from one of my many photos taken in Myrtle Beach. The painting is 5 x 7.

Today the South Bay Art Association's Sketch Group met. Liz posed for us today. I had time for a 6 x 8 painting and then a quick sketch of her.

Stained Paper Collage - Day 5

The final day of class I worked on two collages. The night before  we had gone back to the studio after dinner and I started a sunrise from one of my photos. I finished it the next morning. This is a 7 1/2 inch square.

Here is a photo of the class with Jerry Brommer posing with one of our collages and one of him speaking to the group.

Then I did this 11 x 15 of Tinturn Abbey that I had visited in Ireland last year. I used a small painting I had done on site as well as a photo I had taken for inspiration. As you can see, this one isn't finished yet. We only had until about 2 pm to work on Friday because  they were having Gallery night on our floor and they had to set up and hang all the paintings. When I finish it at home I will post the completed collage.

Gallery Night at Springmaid Beach Water Media is always so great. We have cocktails and walk around to see the work that was created by all the students in the different classes that week. They hang them in groups by instructor. Since we had so few people in our class we each were able to put in most of our paintings. Here are a few photos of what our group did.

My sister, Michelle, who came with me.

Me with my paintings.

It was great to see how different each person did their collages using different subjects, papers, and collage materials. We learned from each other as well as Jerry Brommer. People were so willing to share information and materials.

It doesn't show much in this last photo, but on Friday after going in the indoor pool I went to take a shower. I slipped getting into the shower and landed in the tub hitting my leg, lip, face, and eye. I was a little red and puffy in this photo, but now I look like a prize fighter. My face is all black and blue and swollen. I know I am lucky because I didn't break anything, my teeth are still in my mouth, and I am not too sore. The biggest lesson I learned this week was to use the grab bar in the tub. lol

Stained Paper Collage - Day 4

Today we continued working on collages form our minds or our references. I decided to work from a reference photo of a pond with a waterlily. This is 8 x 10.

We did get to walk on the beach at sunrise. It was drizzling a bit on the way back and there wasn't much color in the sky. I did catch a big wave.

Stained Paper Collage - Day 3

For day 3 of the stained paper collage workshop with Gerald Brommer we moved on to more realistic paintings. He told us to work on whatever we normally paint, or anything we would like to do, but use the same collage ideas for that subject. Since I usually paint landscapes that was the first thing I planned to do. I brought along a batch of photos of assorted subjects I thought I would like to do in collage...I probably had about 15 photos from locations, some photos of paintings I had done, and a few small paintings I had done. It was decision time.

I decided to do the Senaque Abbey in Provence that I had visited when we were in France. At the time of year we visited the lavender fields were no longer in bloom, and I was so disappointed. I brought reference photos I had taken of the building and copies of paintings I had done of lavender fields at home. I put them together. This collage is 11 x 15 and took most of the day to complete. As certain stages the collage has to dry before you can add details in the form of paint or ink.

Here is the painting the way it looked partway through.

And here is the finished collage.

I also started a second painting that I will show you tomorrow. 

Today here in Myrtle Beach, SC we had clouds in the morning and rain all day long. Luckily we are inside working and only need to run from the conference center across about 20 feet to the restaurant for meals. The rain did hold off long enough this morning for us to walk on the beach before breakfast. Again because of the clouds there weren't any good colors at sunrise, but at least today there was a touch of pink in the sky if you look closely.

Barnacles

This was painted here en plein air by the beach here in Myrtle Beach. Barnacles is a cafe right on the beach on the Springmaid Beach Pier. It is on one side of the building and the gift shop is on the other side. We had a sunny day, about 65 degrees. We took a nice long walk on the beach, and had time for sketching before meeting with our instructor for our workshop.

Inspired by Maggie Latham

One of the bloggers who I have followed for a long time is Maggie Latham.

http://maggielathamstudios.blogspot.com

In addition to posting her own wonderful work she often teaches on her blog. She is presently doing lessons incorporating permanent ink with other water media. She started the lessons just as I was on the road to my workshop in Myrtle Beach so I am trying to do a few of them and catch up. I don't know if I will get to all the exercises but it is fun to see what she recommends doing.

I went to the Suffolk County Farm and Environmental Center in Yaphank. My favorite all time view there is from the exit ramp on the Long Island Expressway. You can see many of the small barns across the field as well as the silos. I have painted this a few times before. For safety reasons I always do this view from my car (NY drivers are crazy.) and every time I sit there I expect a police trouper's car to come over and see why I am sitting there for so long, but I guess they are too busy chasing down speeding cars. lol

Here are the three quick sketches I did.

I did the top sketch with my dip pen, a small brush, a bottle of India ink, and my water brush. I did have visions of spilling the ink in the car, so I made sure to put a towel on my lap for protection. Then being a colorist I couldn't resist adding some alizarin and yellow ochre tones.

The second sketch was done just with the dip pen and brush and some water from the water brush.

The bottom one was done with my Lamy pen with brown ink that is not very permanent.

Thanks, Maggie for some good ideas. I'll have to try a few more of the ideas you showed. I know my Myrtle Beach sunrises and palm trees are calling out to be combined into something.

Sunrise at Myrtle Beach

While I was in Myrtle Beach I dragged my body out at about 5:30 every morning to take a 2 mile walk and take photos of the sunrise. I even managed a few quick sunrise paintings in my little moleskin notebook. It would have been nicer if the weather wasn't so cold, but I worked it out.

Welcome to Myrtle Beach

I am presently at a workshop at Springmaid Beach with Judy Morris in Myrtle Beach, SC. Today was checkin, meet the instructor, happy hour, and then dinner. We got here early so we had a bit of time to sit out and sketch for a while. The is the view down by the beach. I did a double page in my small moleskin journal.