Today the skies were clear and the weather was perfect -- although there was a pretty hefty wind which sapped the water from your body and gave all of us excuses for not being able to paint a straight line.

No excuses for Frank.   He started the day with a demonstration that was challenging to say the least.  He wanted to show us all another approach to painting and to emphasize the point that most paintings are all about values.  He chose a scene that was almost all in the shade and he developed it thoughtfully and carefully emphasizing subtle color shifts of slight variances in value.  He reminded us that no value in the dark family (in this case in the shady area) cold be lighter than any value in the light family (the sunlit areas).  This was especially challenging because the carriage he was painting was WHITE!...   He began by establishing the lightest light (the sunlit area in front of the stable) rather than the darkest dark this time. I think that alone impressed me...   Although the demonstration took most of the morning, it was well worth it to see how he carefully selected values and colors that were very close together and deliberately put down strokes of paint to eventually let the painting emerge.  

Frank was also very careful with his drawing.. often checking his initial measurements.  He did not DRAW out the whole scene with detail but rather made "notes" to himself using a cad/ultramarine mix which he continued to check.  From there as he layed in each paint stroke he reminded us to judge every value by comparing it with the lightest light and with the values closest to it.

He isolated color shapes and kept asking himself, "How dark is it compared to what is next to it?"  He said not to stare too long at something -- just get the impression of color and make value relationships using your last impression.  So much can be said with economy of stroke.  The look is more about feelings and colors... it is a study in greys.  -- It's like a poem.. Let the viewer imagine more....   Some paintings can be skillfully right but are just boring.  Push color variations, one stroke at a time.  Don't just paint in a section like a coloring book.

Thick texture comes toward you so be careful with your brushwork and use it to lead the eye.

After another delicious meal we all set out to paint on our own.   I did better than yesterday, but not as well as I would have liked.   None the less, it was another terrific day.   We all enjoyed hearing stories about all the painters who visited San Miguel earlier in the year.  Frank has several of their paintings up on his gallery walls alongside his own beautiful work.   It was interesting seeing how so many great artists can paint side by side and still create work which is unique and wonderfully different.        

Hasta manana!