Plein Air in the Vines
Teaching a workshop at Tinhorn Creek Winery in beautiful Oliver BC... sorta a dream come true for me. Sounds cheesy, I know... but you know my work is all about nostalgia for the Okanagan Valley where I grew up. Going up there always feels like I am returning home. It's the smell of the sage, the earth, the clean fresh lakes, the orchards and rolling hills with the vineyards; all of it gives me that feeling of the comfort of the deeply familiar. I love painting the drama of the summer storms too, but a lovely day on the veranda of the winery will have to do ;)
Is their anything better then this view and a glass of wine? Not really for me, except capturing the sunrise over the mountain's was pretty special as well. I had a bunch of local beginner painters join me for a quick workshop on my oil painting technique of alla primma; which translates into painting wet on wet. When I first started oil painting I could figure out how oil painters got such rich, deep colours in there work........ my work just turned into mud. It was an oil slick of frustration that got worse with every brush stroke. How the heck are they creating beautiful paintings and all I am creating is a mess!
I went on a journey to find out how to build the colours and depth that now is a signature of my work.
After years of perfecting a 'stained glass' technique of laying the colours down to build the foundation of the painting to brining forth an image from simple shapes, the landscape takes place in a short amount of time with layers of colour. I went thru basic technique, brushes and brush work, colour theory, and fundaments of building a painting with those that joined me. The attendees also got to try my favorite oil paint, Gamblin artist quality in the transparent colours and we went through how to layer them to achieve this look.
The two hours just flew by and everyone earned a lovely glass of estate produced wine and a smile with their new art piece! Everyone had so much fun that the folks at Tinhorn Creek asked me to come back this fall to teach again...
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