Workshop . Day Two.

So we arrived with NO homework done to speak off. I mean, we are all so damn busy during the week. But everybody had made little improvements to their setup: a new gesso'ed canvas here, some new colors there...
We did a gray-scale drawing with three values. It as amazing to see that such a simple exercise would simplify the scene a big deal and become a road map for the painting. My usual mistakes: punching contrasts too much, over-detailing of areas that are not the foucs of interest, etc...became apparent in 5 minutes. I am enthusiastic about this technique and shall exercise it often.
We painted our hearts out while Jennifer hovered around giving pointers that mostly dealt with the true observation of color. The scene had little contrast due to the gloomy day but that made the work even more of a challenge. Jennifer made some color corrections as I painted. I tend to automatically blend the backdrop of mountains with the sky color. Not this time. I tend to eliminate warmth from the sky the same way children paint all tree trunks brown. Not this time. Jennifer's notes were dead on. Note to self: Observation has no shortcuts. Nature will be obeyed. I loved the result and I a glad I organized this workshop.