Fun with friends

Home from the Mark Mehaffey workshop.  Mark is a lot of fun, and a very positive teacher.  Mark gave us a lot of paint compliments of M. Graham and company.   Nice of them - a generous amount of product.  I had never used it before, and really enjoyed the gradation you could achieve.  Didn't mingle well, so you have to choose it for the correct circumstance.  I'll have to try it glazing, will probably work well.  Also, Cheap Joes gave us some swag - a pencil, eraser, and sharpener.  I misplaced my sharpener, so that really came in handy.  Anyway, we started with a value study of one of our own photographs.  Then we were instructed to do eight small paintings, each with a particular form of study, i.e. complementary, analagous, etc.   I completed four, which was fairly average for our class.  The second day we started working on YUPO paper, which was a first for me, and prepared another sheet for the third day.  It was a new experience and a lot of fun to try.  I stuck with my original value study, even though I was thoroughly sick of the subject by the end.  But in for a  penny...I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I had chosen a photo of the blooming tulip tree in my backyard.  I have never painted flowers before so it fulfilled my motto of doing something that scares me every day.  Here is the kicker, my mother loved it!  She is framing it and putting it in her office.  My youngest loved the non-objective piece and my sister snagged two of the little paintings which matched her decor.  Go figure.  I'm particularly pleased with the value study, which I have now incorporated into my routine.  I have already gone back and fixed two paintings that just bugged me - now I know why.  Today I started a new painting of three little girls at the Skate Park.  Painting again tomorrow.