Saturday, March 03, 2007



Sunlit Canyon

Yesterday, I took an online watercolor workshop through Art Academy Live. Basically, it's an interactive live streaming video class. A supplies list is provided to enable the student to prepare for the class. On the date and time of the class, the student logs in and is directed to the classroom. There is the artist/teacher/demonstrator and also a moderator. If students have questions during the workshop, they type the question on their keyboard, the moderator reads the question and the instructor answers the question. Very slick! The classes are from 75 to 90 minutes long and the time flew like it was only 20 mintues! I had my palette loaded, paper ready, brushes laid out and was still hustling to get my painting done. It didn't turn out very good, so I redid it today and the redo is the one I've posted. This was an excellent exercise for me on painting without sketching, using flat brushes (I'm REALLY partial to rounds!) and mixing colors on the paper rather than on my palette. I think I have a better grip on saving whites, having the lightest and darkest areas next to each other for the center of interest and creating the look of sunlight on rocks and vegetation. If anyone is interested in checking out these workshops, go to http://www.artacademylive.com/

6 comments:

Teri said...

Wow Brenda, how fun!! Beautiful painting-lot of serenity and mystery to it.

Lynn said...

Excellent use of white here, Brenda. This is lovely.

Emma Pod said...

This is such a striking painting! I'm amazed at the contrast of colors and brightness. It's really pretty. The class sounds really interesting too.

Jules said...

Brenda - you sound so enthused by the class - and this is full of luscious colour! Just added your blog to my Bloglines so I can keep up with what your posting!(only figured out what this was and how to use it this week!!!!).
Jules

Marilyn said...

Brenda, I love your work. The richness of the color on this one is just wonderful. Thanks for your kind comments on my blog.
Marilyn

Anonymous said...

Brenda, the picture turned out wonderful. These bright colors are beautiful. And it was done with the help of an online course -- wow! How did you manage it to paint and type questions at the same time? Respect! I couldn't do both things at the same time...:o)... guess I'll have to wait until they offer online courses via conference mode (with headphone and a microphone)