Workshop Day One

Monday Morning.

This morning the fog was gone, mostly, so bright and early I traveled down to Cheap Joe’s for the first day of my workshop. It was interesting to see who all came. There are 12 people in the workshop, all women! There was one man signed up, but never showed. Outnumbered?

Jane Jones is the woman who is leading it. She is a floral artist who specializes in realism and glazing techniques. I for one felt uncertain about this workshop. Even though this is something I have always wanted to learn more about, I am totally inexperienced with this, and unsure of myself.  Jane's Website

Jane runs a tight ship. She knows what she wants to teach, and have enough experience to know what to focus on and what shortcuts she needs to take to get things done in the short time we have.

The major problem we need to overcome is the slow drying time of oils. To deal with this we used a drying agent, and lamps to speed curing of the paint.

We did start by toning the work surface. Basically we took the white off (something I am used to) with a thin coating of burnt sienna on two small supports and payne’s gray. Then while those were drying up, we traced the basic layouts for 3 works.

One interesting thing, during the opening orientation, we had to read a copyright statement and sign an agreement not to use the images given out in this workshop to make money, or use the work for shows. It was simple, straightforward and she was right. Also, no photos, so no photos of the workshop itself.

There could be no misunderstanding; she explained it simply and completely.

There was minor confusion about the lamps we were to bring. They are to help cure the paintings, to speed things up, but most new lamps do not take the needed 100 watt bulbs. I ended up buying a trouble lamp at the hardware store. A few people have older lamps or did find some on the internet. So between us and the staff of Cheap Joe’s we came up with enough lamps to speed the setting up of all supports.

We actually started the underpainting of one of the works in the afternoon. We painted until 5:30. when we left, I think we all were tired!