Painting workshop in Southern Colorado with Jill Carver

It sure is green here! The aspen are just leafing out and what was gold and yellow when I was here last fall is now just as green as can be! It is challenging to get the greens right, with the right amount of warmth or coolness so that each area can be seen as different from the one next to it that may be the same value!

We have been working hard on values. Yesterday we did three value studies, going from a simple black and white painting showing just the light and shadow patterns, then adding one grey to the next one, then two on the next, for a total of four values.

Today we did another value study using five values, and then painted the same scene in color. Jill photographed the color paintings in black and white and we will compare our color paintings to the value study via the black and white photo. The goal is to learn to see value comparisons within and between the different hues. That is a challenge for me, as I know I have a tendency to use color when I should be using value. Hopefully my painting I did today achieved that, although I think I could have used temperature better to give more of a feeling of distance. But we will see when we critque on Thursday.

Tomorrow we head to a local ranch to paint, with lunch catered by a person who I am told is a fabulous cook! A treat after my cheese quesdillas I have had for lunch every day so far this week.

After the Jill Carver workshop

I didn't come out with a completed painting! We painted every day, and I got a couple of good starts, but nothing finished. I did finish one of them today (I think) but haven't photographed it yet. The photo above is of Jill painting a cottonwood as her first demo. I met one of our fellow bloggers there. Pam Holnback also took the workshop. I enjoyed getting to know her and her husband Peter, both former schoolteachers. She did a much better job than I did of posting about the workshop as we took it, and she finished her paintings! I was lucky to get my block ins done.

The workshop was fabulous and I learned a lot! However, it is a bit difficult to see nothing but Cadmium yellow and yet paint using neutrals (greys). The color in Rico was awesome, and whole hillsides were bright yellow and orange! I commented on how orange one little patch of trees in the distance was against the dark pines, and Jill told me that it wasn't really orange, but a "peachy pinky grey". She is the master and I am just the student, so I believed her, but I sure wanted to use my Cad yellow and Indian yellow!

The second photo was taken at Trout Lake, just over Lizard Head pass from Rico, about halfway to Telluride. I loved the orange color in the mountain. In some lights it was really bright orange, and I wondered who would believe me if I actually painted it that color. They would think I was taking a little artistic license.