Just finished a three day workshop at Jeffrey Hirst's Oakland Studio
(link) with instructor Lisa Pressman
(link). We painted with oils, R&F oil sticks and cold wax on Ampersand Encausticbord and on Arches oil paper. I learned a lot but ended up feeling somewhat frustrated since much of my work still needs work. Adding and deleting to come up with image after image, until the final painting soars to life is hard! Out of six 12x16 cradled panels I painted, only one really worked (top painting of White Bird). The painting I started with is below it. I had more luck with the quick studies and use of the 6x6 cuts of Arches oil paper as mini palettes. Eight of those mini paintings are below the White Bird panel. Painting without reference turned me, once again, to painting with stick figures, perhaps not too successfully. The Tree painting was fun but is somewhat boring and the paintings of Big Bird and Rainbow Baby Bird (two lowest images show their evolution) seem to be regressing, rather than improving. I love the medium, however, so will keep on keeping on with this for awhile. The best thing about the workshop was the chance to work with a small group of talented people and to learn which artists influenced them (many of whom were new to me).
