Studies with My Students

Tree Paintings



Notes From My Tree Journal

Today I did one of my favorite learning exercises with my Saturday afternoon painting class. I call them progressive paintings. We start with a limited palette of 5 tube colors. The first painting is done in 15 minutes. We stop and analyze each painting, talking about compositional improvements,value structure and scale. We decide what plan to make in our next painting. Each painting is of the same scene. Then we start the next study. We take 25 minutes for painting two. Then we go through the same routine of discussion, comparing our first and second painting. The next painting is a 45 minute painting. The idea is to improve a bit on each effort, taking a little longer with each study. Because the class is in my loft studio, I had to leave my painting several times to talk with studio visitors so mine are pretty hit or miss due to the interruptions, but I will go back to them and correct and finish them. I'll use them as a series of the tree I studied. This is a sure fire way to improve your painting skills with trees or any subject.

I am excited to be leaving Monday morning for a week of bliss at my favorite artist residency, Fair Oaks. I am privileged to spend a week there this time. I'll be studying lots of trees while I'm there. When I get back I'll check in here with some new tree paintings.