On my own

I was so psyched up to paint when I finished my last class, but because I was in the middle of a major remodeling project of my home I had to wait. By mid June I was ready to paint, and began to set up my studio.

By June 2oth I was ready. What to paint? I spent so much time on the Wednesday figuring out what to paint that I finally had to go to bed and get up in the morning to paint. I hadn't considered that overnight the mushroom in my composition would begin to shrivel up!

The mushroom was more difficult for me to paint because of it's light color. The mushroom also doesn't reflect as much light as the tomato so the full range of tone is much less than the range found on the tomato.

First tone painting

Today was my fifth full day of lessons; I've raced through the drawing course. I was anxious to begin what my teacher calls "tone paintings." In a tone painting only one color is used and mixed with white. So it is basically a black and white painting.I painted this bowl in class today. My teacher liked the brush work on the inside back part of the bowl. I was amazed that I had something I could recognize! This was feeling SO much better than my high school experience. My teacher teaches for about 10 days then devotes about 6 weeks to her own oil painting. Then she offers another series of classes.

I left with the mission of painting 7 or 8 tone paintings. I thought I'd be able to do more.

Critical decision - a teacher

Do you remember taking art in high school? I do. That's where I was told I couldn't draw.

Fast forward many years. While taking a drawing class at a local museum, and realizing with practice I could learn to draw. I began a search to find a teacher that would be a good match for me. This took awhile, but when I spoke to Elizabeth, I knew she was the person I needed to learn from. So on May 5th 2007 I begin my first lesson with her. Elizabeth's students begin with her drawing course and only then learn about oil painting.