Thursday, September 30, 2010

Beach View


Beach View, L. Daniel, 9 x 12


Well, I am still basking in the afterglow of the 2010 Weekend with the Masters! We had four days of non-stop workshops, demos, panel discussions and all around joie de vivre! It was a fabulous time with so much to take in. Of course the highlight was being able to paint under some plein air teachers I greatly admire: Frank Serrano, Camille Pryzewodek and Daniel Pinkham.

In Frank Serrano's class we focused in on atmosphere. He is from the California coast and is exceptionally good at catching the subtle tonal shifts caused by fog and salty air. Frank had us start with the sky first - really getting color and value right. Then we keyed the rest of the values off the sky as we worked our way down into the painting. This is just the opposite to what I normally do! The idea here is that since the light in the sky affects everything else, it's important to get that correct first. I definitely found it very helpful. This was my morning painting from that day; a view looking down at the Dana Point Beach.

7 comments:

Denise Rose said...

Sounds like yall had great fun and learning! I posted this on Julie's blog too, but I just watched Frank Serrano's video and really admire him and his style and teaching style too. I love your painting from the morning and it looks like you did very well following his process! Thanks for sharing the experience with us and showing your beautiful painting!

Heidi Malott said...

Your work is lovely. I always enjoy seeing it on DP.

Kelley Carey MacDonald said...

This is bea-u-ti-ful! I'm thrilled for you that you got to go!

susangraeber said...

again,posting your approach is wonderful...i too have been changing to sky first,and keying in the rest,and am finding it a better way to start with plein air,rather than leaving the sky for last....can't wait to see future postings and paintings from your workshop...sounds really wonderful....thank you.

David Westerfield said...

This is really nice Laurel. You got the atmosphere.

Barbara Muir said...

Oh Laurel,

So gorgeous. What a beautiful painting. I love California, and I'm so glad you had a great time. Thank you for sharing it with us.

XOXOXOXOXOXBarbara

Randall said...

I think I see some of what Serrano does showing up here. Awesome.

~Kirby