I had such a wonderful time last year in Frank Gardner's plein air painting workshop that I decided to try it again, so here I am in Mexico.  When I got here, Frank offered to take me along with him to visit some of the beautiful churches I often see in his paintings.  Interestingly enough, many of these little gems are now being renovated for the upcoming independence celebration and Frank was a bit dismayed because parts of the aging sections that he likes so much were being "fixed".   Oh well --  It will be a new opportunity to paint what may seem like a new scene.

This year I'm staying in a different B & B because some of the artists from the workshop were staying here.  It is nice but not as beautiful as the B & B I stayed at last year.  It is, however, closer to the center of town.  I've enjoyed getting to know Suzanne -- it's always good to have a buddy to share your defeats and victories with..  (and to share a meal and a margarita with too!)   We walked all over town on Sunday.   There is a new beautiful scene around every corner.
Yesterday was the first day of the workshop.   Frank had said that he planned to do it a bit differently this year and do some practice block ins to work on value, and design.  I had reviewed all of his notes from the previous workshop the night before and was dismayed to realize how much of what he had said I had NOT been utilizing.  Makes me realize how much I should review the notes I take and try to take on one thing at a time until I've mastered it..  I have been working on color and value, but may never ever get to the point where I'd like to be.

As with last year, Frank talked about his limited palette of alizerin, cad red, cad yellow light, lemon yellow, french ultramarine blue and thalo with white.  He mixes piles of color with the palette knife to avoid dirtying the colors.  He tries to mix the colors that he sees in the scene he will be painting on the palette before he places them on the canvas or board.  I enjoy listening to Frank as he explains what he's doing.  If only I could internalize it better. 

If you get a chance when he offers his class next year, book it!  Between the great city of San Miguel, the fabulous gourmet meals on the painting site and the great instruction, this workshop is a real winner.  I've taken many workshops... enjoyed almost all of them and learned from all of them... but I came back for a second time to this one because I enjoyed it so much.     (Don't hold these paintings of mine against Frank!)

I painted three real dogs yesterday, but still had a good time.  After doing his demo, we began to paint and Frank talked to each of us several times as we worked, giving us pointers as we worked.  He wanted us to just to do block ins to get a feel for the values and the compositions as well as to do a bit of practice with the color mixing.  I was exhausted last night so didn't get much chance to blog and it's almost time to leave again this morning so I will finish up and post more later.  

In the meantime,   I wish you all happy painting.