Whistler Art Workshops

Well, I am back from a very busy week in Whistler. On June 28 and 29, I attended a color theory workshop facilitated by Chili Thom, a Whistler artist. He had some wonderful insights for using color to create harmony in your color palette and depth in your paintings. I have yet to actually put everything I learned there into practice, but I look forward to using his theories in my work. I started one piece, using his actualy painting style, but am not sure if I will move forward with it as it is, or paint over top of what I have with a looser style. I do like his paintings, though, and recommend you check out his website: http://www.chilithom.com/.

A quick trip to Vancouver on the Monday took me to see the Dutch Masters at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and then it was back to Whistler for a second workshop on Tuesday. This workshop was a 4-day affair facilitated by award winning watercolor artist Jean Pederson (http://www.jeanpederson.com/) . The theme for this workshop was to layer different types of watermedia to achieve exciting results in your paintings. I really enjoyed watching her demonstrate her techniques and was most impressed by her ability to paint watercolors on a vertical painting surface without the colors running every which way! The workshop was fast-paced, with a new technique offered up every hour or so. There was plenty of studio time to put theory into practice, and I came away with the beginnings of several pieces, two of which I have subsequently finished at home this week. Although the techniques I used were learned at this workshop, the style of my pieces is definitely not Jean's! I am looking forward to creating more layered pieces and mixing my watermedia: watercolors, gouache, acrylics, watercolor crayons, acrylic inks, watercolor pencils....

Updraft
mixed media and collage on paper
14" x 11"

Next week I am off to Wells for 4 days of unstructured playtime with my paints :-) When I get back, I might have time to update my website with all my new artwork!