Back Bay Close Up

 

 Oil on linen Canvas board

I painted this little 6x6 at a workshop with Glenn Dean (link to one of my favorite paintings of his) in Newport Back Bay last Friday.
The Fine Art Collaborative had arranged a weekend of great workshops as well as 2 lectures with Dan McCaw and John Asaro and an Art Show at the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa.  This was the first year for the event and I hope they do it again.

It was really nice to see Glenn demo and we all got to see first hand how simplifying the landscape creates a much stronger statement, especially with Glenn's beautiful color combinations and his masterful sense of design.  I especially love his handling of clouds and trees and I learned a lot from seeing how deliberate he is in his process of laying down the paint.

 Glenn Dean's demo piece

It was a treat to hang out and paint with a talented group of artists.  Painting with us Friday were both Frank Gardner and Mark Fehlman, two of the other Workshop Instructors that weekend.  And in the evening I stayed for the lecture with Dan McCaw who was inspiring as well.  Here are some of the notes I took that stand out (sometimes paraphrased:):
-We all have our own True North.  Develop skills to take you on a journey - the journey you want to go on!
-I want a painting to draw you in, surprise you and awaken something that you already own.
-The shadow of the monster is more powerful than spelling it out.  Stay a little ambiguous.
-A painting is done when you've said what you want to say.
I left encouraged to explore, fill sketchbooks with ideas and paint, making my own pure, aesthetic choices looking past painting exactly what you see, to say what I want to say.