Wrapping up my two-day workshop...

Sunday afternoon, near the end of the workshop

Just wanted to share a few pictures and a little bit about my workshop at Guy Magallanes' Studio this past weekend. I had nine students -- three from southern California (Bakersfield and Altadena) and six local artists -- including Guy and his partner in Art2Art, Joyce Faulknor. I had a great time teaching the workshop and, from the feedback I got, I think everyone attending had a fun time too!!  

My thanks to Guy for hosting my return to the workshop scene -- couldn't have asked for a better host or more congenial workspace. I greatly appreciated his support and encouragement!! Guy has also posted more pictures of the weekend with two blog entries, here and here.

Guy posts the finished paintings for review

I enjoy working at a level of detail that sometimes gives even me the heebie-jeebies, so I recognize that it can be daunting, but everybody tackled the myriad details with good cheer and determination. I also presented several options for the background.

 All our ducks in a row!!

Seeing all the finished paintings lined up together was a treat -- and I enjoyed the creativity that people took in customizing the backgrounds in their paintings. Some of the group even came prepared to do multiple paintings so they could try out several background options.

Dippy Duck #4

watercolor, 8" x 8"

Chris Beck

This is my finished demo piece, and he proudly takes his place in what is a growing line of these fun ducks with their outsized red bills. I was very excited to discover a new way of creating the background design as I experimented in preparation for the weekend. The process is fun and quite easy to do but gives a complex finished look. I'm going to be adding it to my workshop bag of tricks and look forward to sharing it with more of you as I schedule more workshops.