Workshop wonders!...day one!

Let me introduce you to Carol Jean Marine. She has it all folks! Beauty, grace, talent, wisdom! I'm not finished....she is warm and kind, sincere and truthful, giving and insightful. An amazing teacher with non-stop information. Encouraging and inspiring to each and everyone.

Needless to a say, she is an amazing artist, too!

On the first morning, she set up three green pears on a 'dish cloth'! After studying the edible still life through a veiw finder, she made a few marks and simply sketched in her fruit and there shadows. Next she addressed the most 'vulnerable' (thanks Steve!) of the painting and painted in the brightest, most saturated colors.

Moving along rather quickly, she painted in the darks/shadows. Filled in the background. Highlighted and stemmed the fruit! Amazing! Just look at those brush strokes! Each one carefully thought out and appropriately placed. So fresh! So simple. Looks can be deceiving. this is much harder than it looks....Trust me on this! Quick as a wink, she was finished and sent us to our easels to set up our own still life.

I was shaking in my boots! But determined to show no fear, I tied on my favorite paint apron and got busy! So while I was looking for subject matter, digging through two large boxes of oil paint to find the specified 2 yellows, 2 reds, 2 blues, burnt sienna and white, and was setting up my palette. . . . everyone else was painting. Wow! I needed to step on it! Carol had mentioned that a view finder was imperative for our painting, so not having one, I took a few more minutes to craft one out of card stock and masking tape. With my carefully selected peach in place complete with stem and leaves, I picked up my brush, took a deep breath and began. I found lining up my subject matter through the view finder very difficult...almost dizzying! I pushed on determined more than before. Man! This was hard! Looking around the room certainly didn't help. Everyone was painting way. Feeling a bit tired and now anxious, I continued to look around until my gaze fell upon the fabulous work of the two Southern Belle's, working side by side. More about these Dixie Darlings, later!

Oh My! With not even a mark on my canvas, it looked like they were nearly finished! Truly feeling disheartened, I flagged down Carol, who was roaming around the room, for help. She gave me some helpful advice which helped me to get started started. I really was the slowest and the last to finish, but in the end I was please with my peach!