Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Study of the Riverbed at O'Neal Regional 8x10


This was a wonderful day out at O'Neal Regional Park.  Greg LaRock, who I have studied with through workshops, offered a day of appreciation to all of his past students.  He did a demo in the morning, fed us a wonderful lunch and worked with everyone one of us during our own painting AND! offered to critique any painting we were working on and brought along.  He is a talented teacher and just a generous guy.  Throughout his demo he shared just about every thought step by step.  He discussed and tried things and then changed them and discussed why.  It was a great day.
Now for me.  By the time I actually got painting I was a bit tire and had eaten lunch and a wonderful chocolate chip cookie, provided by Greg LaRock.  I got out there and worked out 3 different under paintings which I wiped off.  This is big for me.  My natural instinct is to beat the dead horse and go home defeated.  So by the time I got to #4 and kept it on the canvas there was not much time left in the day.  So it became a good beginning, a sketch or just not done.  That's okay because it was truly a great day.  Any day painting is a great day of learning just a little bit more about this wonderful thing we do as artist and students of creativity.  


11 comments:

Dana Cooper said...

Dori, this is a beautiful painting! I'm glad you had such a nice day and persevered...great job, and so many rocks! HA!!

Anonymous said...

Not a dead horse in sight. Such a great composition with the river leading back then the layers of foreground, brush and mountain creating a zig zag pattern. So you recommend chocolate chip cookies for plein air excursions?

Unknown said...

So encouraging when artists I admire share that they too wipe off work and start over. I love this Dori. you have such a nice rhythm with your brushwork.

Dewberry Fine Art said...

Thanks Dana...those silly rocks again. They just seem to be everywhere.

Karen said...

Dori, I really like the perspective in this one. It's flat...it goes back really far.
What a generous teacher!

loriann signori said...

Dori, what a beautiful little painting and you handled those troublesome rocks well. So good that you can persevere through all the wipes off and then create this! Brava!
Sounds like you have a wonderful and generous teacher. I think I' go check out his site. Thanks!
PS It's good to hear others struggle as well. :-)

Marian Fortunati said...

What a great day and a wonderful painting.
I have so many dead horses piled high in my storage room because I haven't yet learned what you learned!! Everyone says that the paintings are made or ruined within the first 10 minutes... Why then I ask myself do I continue to paint on them for hours???
HOWEVER your example here is terrific. I've got Greg on my list of people to study plein air with ... glad you've once again reaffirmed that he's a great teacher.
I like the way the darks on the right of the painting help frame the painting and move you into it... Way to go Dori!!

Kim VanDerHoek said...

WoW! You handled your water and rocks so well. You even got in the reflections of the green trees in the background without overworking them. Your rocks don't look too composed and have a good variety of shapes. I think this is very successful and would be a good one to try painting larger.

I'll pick up my terps. can on Friday. I had no idea...

Leslie Saeta said...

Dori, very nice painting! I am a huge fan of Greg's and so jealous that you had another chance to study with him. Don't you find that after a very inspiring demo it is hard to paint your own painting? I find that I have too may thoughts and ideas in my mind, not to mention changes that I would like to make ... so the canvas usually ends up with something I don't like. Good for you for sticking with it. You had a fun day and also ended up with a great painting!

Dar Presto said...

This is a very pleasing composition, and I love the perspective.
Mmm, cookies...

jsicignano2.blogspot.com said...

I admire your courage to be out there in the first place. And to produce a beautiful painting, you should be very pleased. I love the composition, colors etc. I could go on on. Great job.