Terry Ludwig class Day two

Here's the painting I completed in Terry's class, Day two. Two years ago, I went on a pumpkin patch excursion with coworkers and took a photo because I thought it would make a fun painting. Stan tried to print it out for me but since it came from a cell phone, it wouldn't print out...so I found this photo that Stan took which was similar to the photo of the field that I took a picture of...

I just envisioned this painting of a pumpkin field and it was so much fun to paint.

Today's class was wild, Stan's foreman, Cory, posed for Terry for a portrait Demo. It turned out to be a very humorous session, you just had to be there...like Vegas, what happens in Terry's classes stays in Terry's class...

We went to see Stan's show in Cape May...stunning. We all went out to eat at the little Mexican restaurant, Gecko's. Lot's of fun and great food.

On Wednesady, hopefully, we'll be out Plein Air painting at Cape May Lighthouse, one of my favorite spots.

Goals for the week of 9/27

Well since I am in Terry's class this week...here's what my goals are for this week:

1) to learn what I can, enjoy the class and have fun

2) Try to post what I can on my blog and on FB

3) Come home with all new ideas

4) Paint more of what I love, South Jersey

Next week, I will be back to my regularly scheduled goals.

Yesterday in Terry Ludwig's class

I am participating in Terry Ludwig's pastel workshop. I got the opportunity at the last minute to attend when someone dropped out. I originally didn't plan to go because normally I attend Paint Annapolis, but this year I didn't go to Paint Annapolis. Stan Sperlak hosted the workshop for the Maryland Pastel Society.

It rained buckets and we had to set up in Stan's studio space and greenhouse that was attached. Terry painted a demo for us from a photo that Stan had on hand. Because we were painting indoors, we had to paint from photos so we pillaged the box of prints that Stan provided.

I selected one of an orchard and farm stand (above) and painted that. It was such a typical Jersey Fresh type of produce stand that it caught my eye. The sun came out briefly and cooked us in the greenhouse. Stan's employees took the time to pull a cover over to give us some shade. It was a typical rainy Jersey Shore day in September complete with the humidity.

Terry is an entertaining and informative instructor. It's always good for an artist to get out and work with other artists and this was no exception. We've been shown how to remake a broken pastel, Stan showed us how he frames his paintings without mats.....it's a great workshop.

Here's what I did last Wednesday with with the sketch group

Artists are always learning new techniques, refining skills and trying new things, and that's what a sketchbook is for. Sometimes it is difficult to open up what you are doing in your sketchbook to the world, because sketchbooks are for trying things out, recording information and the equivalent to taking notes of places you've been or scenes that you might want to paint at a later time. We aren't trying to create the Mona Lisa in our sketchbooks.

Here's an example of that. This sketch was done in our local cemetery...I was trying out a technique where I don't draw things out in pencil first...I just painted freehand right on the page. It's a daring move and forces you to just paint without preliminary marks on the page. I am also using the Niji watercolor brush which is still a new "animal" for me. The brush has a water well stored in the handle and you are not painting as you would if you were dipping your brush in a reservoir. I still don't have the Niji brush technique refined just yet. That's the purpose of the sketchbook, to refine something that is unfamiliar.

As you can see, I had some issues with the angel's face because I was working with a large brush and should have switched to a smaller tipped brush....so instead of a total failure, I whipped out my Micron pens and refined a few things.

If at first you don't succeed, move on and try again....

Goals for the week of 9/20

Brr, chilly this week.

This week's goals are (some are repeat goals and will be for a while)

1) Still have to convert over to my new website. I am catching up on some things, like postings, the website will come....

2)I am doing better posting on Facebook. Even found one of my former coworkers/friend from an old job. It was good to catch up. I run blogs, this one and the one for my sketch club, which is chock full of useful info. http://patchoguesketchclub.blogspot.com is the link.

3) Hey, getting some of the Art House pages, goal being met.

4) I want to work on some Egg Tempera paintings, get out and see if I can withstand plein air painting again .... My goal, at least one painting a week...

5) I am meeting my sketchbook goal, need to meet the journaling goal. Showed my personal sketchbook to my sketch club members, they want to learn some of the things I have been trying.

6) Learn how to make my own sketchbook. Picked up a few books on how to do this. Might take a class.

Now that summer is over, it's getting easier to work on this list.

Out and about

I try to do as much sketching as I can when I am out and about....we went to the Jets game at the Meadowlands back in August, then went into NYC, Chelsea area to grab a bite and I did this from the cafe where we were sitting....another sketch in my Art House CoOp Sketchbook....

Cross blogging

I started a sketch club under the umbrella of the Patchogue Arts Council and I created and run the blog. I post some interesting stuff over there and one of the interesting posts right now is about what to look for in artist materials, if you want to check that out, go to http://patchoguesketchclub.blogspot.com.

Above is a sketch I did when I was out with the folks last week. It was chilly and Chloe kept chewing on my pen cap. Tonight we are headed to sketch in the local cemetery. COOL.

The Monday Goal List for the week of 9/13

I feel like Bill Murray on Groundhog Day....Well it's September, AGAIN. What a bummer summer is over. When it's summer, all you want to do is spend your days OUT of the house. Then the chill and shorter days drive us indoors. My sketch group is looking for some indoor venues for the colder shorter evenings and some weekends so we can get out when there is some daylight.

This week's goals are (some are repeat goals)

1) I still have to work on that new website! Having spent any time working on it at all because we were enjoying the nice warm summer evenings

2)Minimum of two posts a week on my blog and try to post at least once a day to my FB page. Wow, I haven't been on FB for a while. Blog is being revved back up again now that summer is over. Boy it was tough posting or even getting into the studio when all I wanted to do was get OUT.

3) Get some of my Art house pages posted up here...getting ready to post some....I have lots of pictures, just haven't posted them.

4)Work on some Egg Tempera paintings, get out and see if I can withstand plein air painting again .... My goal, at least one painting a week...I did a study last week outside of Greenport.

5) I MET my sketchbook goal, need to meet the journaling goal.

6) Learn how to make my own sketchbook.

Well there's the list, lets see how it changes week to week now that summer is over.

Still playing catch up

Chloe is asleep at the moment. I got back early from sketching since the light is going away quicker, I am getting more studio time and more time to blog. However, little Chloe had other ideas and I spent some quality time with her. She'll only be a puppy for a short time. She's been beating up the $1 toy we picked her up from Target.

Getting back on track. It's been an interesting summer. I've had a painting accepted into the Walking Arts Tour here in Patchogue. I've been asked to be a trustee for the South Bay Artist Association. I helped launch a Paint Out here on the South Shore that I was so excited about. I've been out sketching every week with my Sketch Group which I really enjoy. I just need to post those up here.

Days are getting shorter and although it's still nice out to paint, it also means with the shorter days that there will be more time spent in the studio in the evenings than out sketching or painting plein air. Which means more blog posts, yay! I tried doing it from my phone but gave up for now. Time to get back on track with my to do list!