Colley Whisson Workshop

I had the pleasure of attending a 3-day workshop with Colley 
Whisson hosted by the Illume Gallery of Fine Art  in Salt Lake City.   

He created a non-threatening atmosphere by teaching us in 
a relaxed manner with a healthy dose of gentle humor. Colley 
shared a saying with us: "I am not a perfectionist, I am a 
correctionist"  

Here's the start of his first painting demonstration.

 My version of it:

Colley's palette was limited to eight colors. He likes to emphasize
keeping the tones in the shadow areas warm and rich and also to 
eliminate unimportant detail across the entire painting.

He painted a beautiful beach scene that was simple but well 
composed. Note the reference photo on the left and an image
of his painting on the bottom right.  He used both of these as
a reference to paint yet another version of the scene.

Here's my finished version. 

This is a painting of a windmill outside a window that I 
completed on the last day of the workshop. 

Colley also showed us how to block in and complete
a quick still life painting. He said that it is a good
exercise for daily painting and suggested that it 
should be completed in no more than 30 minutes.

If you ever have the opportunity to take a workshop from Colley 
Whisson, go for it!  You'll learn a lot from this master painter!

Mt. Olympus in August

"Mt. Olympus in August"

10" x 10" oil on panel

My neighbor is moving to Oklahoma and asked me

to render a painting of Mt. Olympus. This is what we 

both see when we look out our back doors here in 

Salt Lake City, Utah. So majestic!

Palette Knife Workshop at Sugar House Park - So fun!

Our Palette Knife Plein Air Workshop at Sugar House Park 
was a success. Due to the "Tour Utah" bicycle race Big 
Cottonwood Canyon was temporaily closed so we moved 
our workshop to Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City.

We set up shop and begin to work.

We first painted value studies with our palette knives.

Then by using our value studies as a support and of course 
our direct view of the scene, we began to paint with color. 
Not everyone finished their color paintings but we all learned 
to "see" value a little better!

It was a day full of changes; bright and sunny, windy and 
then cloudy. Ha-ha! This can be a challenge when you 
plein air paint.

Red Cliff Ranch An Amazing Event!

I was honored to be invited to participate at the "Celebration 
For the Arts" at the Red Cliff Ranch. The Ranch is located 
East of Heber City, Utah and is a very classy place. 

It's near a beautiful pond and has several out buildings, 
a barn and a main house.

Von and Virginia Whitby own the place and created this event.

They were generous with their time and talents and treated

the artists very well!

Most of the artwork was in and around the barn.

Many of the artists hared horse stalls and hung their
work along the walls.

There was jewelry, hand painted silk apparel, sculpture,
encaustic work (wax), plein air painters, photography,
live music (several bands), mosaic glass, and much more!

Here's a visual tour:

Here's Lucia Heffernan.

Here's Traci O'very Covey.

Some of her work...

It was fun , friendly and truly a celebration. Thanks,
Von and Virginia!!