Our recent FREE demo at DANIEL SMITH Art Supply Store in Seattle with Mitchell Albala had a full house of Artists wanting to learn some tips from Mitchell during the demonstration, and who wanted Mitchell to sign their copy of his new Book: “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice“.    BTW – There is another FREE demo scheduled for April 25th, details below.

 

For this demo, Mitchell used a B&W photo, “Working from a B&W photo has less detraction at this stage rather than working from the color photograph”.  The photo was of a house in a landscape, and Mitchell used it to demonstrate a 4 value study (with acrylic, best for quick black and white value studies) which is his exercise #2 outlined on page 64 of his book. 

 

To begin the demo, Mitchell read a few sentences on “simplification and massing” which he discusses further on pages 57 & 58.  Mitchell told us, “when you are looking at a landscape, it’s very overwhelming all the leaves, grass etc., and doing this value exercise makes you think about the values and basic shapes.”  Simplification and massing are very important for landscape painting as it is with still life and figure, but even more important since there is so much detail and things competing for visual attention.  This B&W exercise is very helpful in determining the important compositional elements, although Mitchell likes the word “design” better than composition because it denotes more thought and decision making by the Artist.

 

When working Mitchell looks at the whole canvas and paints “holistically” not just from the upper left and working down, he is “trying to build the over all pattern and shape”.  He is not painting the perfect house, but rather working over the entire canvas/paper.  “The goal is to place shapes I can modify later”.  By simplifying the shapes, you actually improve the focus of the painting.  Watching Mitchell paint is like watching someone draw with the paint, rather than painting, much more dynamic.  In the photo, MItchell pointed out that the road and sky are the same value (for this exercise he assigned a #2 value) so he told us he had to make a decision, he decided to keep the road a #2 value and blow the sky out to white.  

 

Once Mitchell has the 4 values down he started to work on what he calls his “first pass”.  Mitchell began to add value corrections which begin to pull out some details from the basic shapes he painted.  He told us to use a big brush, because it helps to keep your shapes simple.  Exercises like these are like “training” for the marathon (plein air painting) so that you are ready to paint outdoors.  One of the tips Mitchell shared was; “Few landscapes do not benefit by having a telephone pole.”  Telephone poles are great in landscapes, they add a strong vertical element and several leading off into the distance can add depth to the painting as they draw the eye in.

 

Later Mitchell asked where should he, “put the clouds [from the photo] in the painting?”  In his book, Mitchell talks about how clouds can add a lot of dimension, and using the clouds in proportion and scale to force distance – always with conscious decision to add to the design.

 

Mitchell had a 40 minuet Question & Answer period to answer questions about what he did during the demo and on painting in general.  A few items I noted were:  “Remember that detail must always remain subordinate to the overall value of the painting.”  “Your job as an Artist is to select what is important to the painting and what to leave out.”  Mitchell also told us that he prefers to use the Fredrix Canvas because he likes the absorbency of the surface and it is ready to use.  Mitchell has an entire chapter in his book on choosing a subject, just because you like the subject doesn’t mean it is good for painting, “select your subjects in the right way so it’s not a flat painting.”  Mitchell also uses his computer as a tool to assist with painting , Photoshop is a good tool for “shape builders”.

 

After the demo many of us lined up to have Mitchell sign our copies of his new book: Landscape Painting - got my copy signed!  I have found it to be an excellent book (what I have had time to read!) and look forward to following along with his exercises when I have some time to paint again.

 

It was an excellent demonstration, Thank you Mitchell!

 

There will be another FREE demo with Mitchell at our Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Art Supply Store, Sunday, April 25th from 12pm to 2pm.  Copies of Mitchell’s book: “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice“ will be available for purchase AND he will be signing copies after the demo!

 

Every Day,  Express Yourself  with  ART….
 
~Deborah Burns

 

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Deborah also paints in Watercolor, Oils and Encaustic, and she recently did a demo on Watercolor painting; “Painting Dramatic Reds” at the Seattle Store.  With watercolor, Deborah has her paintings sketched and thought out, and are very controlled.  However, when painting in Acrylic, she finds it to be very freeing and that it allows her spontaneous side to develop.  One of the things that Deborah does that signifies the difference, is that for watercolor, she exclusively uses round brushes, and with acrylic, she uses only flat brushes….particular favorites are Hake brushes.

  

Working on full sheets of 140lb and 300lb cold press watercolor paper, Deborah begins with thin washes of acrylic paint to start with the very process oriented piece.  These thin washes Deborah calls “veils”, she has them dry in between steps, and she does a lot of prep work with these base layers.  As a result, she will have several paintings that she will be working on, she worked on three during the 1 hour demo.

 

Once she has the start of the acrylic painting, Deborah begins her layering using homemade Mylar stencils (these were the figurative elements in her paintings and she “glues” them down with Maskoid ) decorative stamps she has made from cardboard and Mylar, tape, paper collage elements and of course the acrylic paint.  The acrylic paint is both painted on with brushes, sprayed with water, blotted and manipulated to achieve many interesting and expressive effects.  This is one reason why painting in acrylic is so freeing to Deborah, as she said; “just experiment and play, go inside and just allow things to happen.”

 

At the end of the demo Deborah left us with this….  “Just be as creative as the process and let yourself go!”

 

Thank you Deborah!
 
 
Every Day,  Express Yourself with ART….
 
~Deborah Burns

Saturday, August 2nd at 11am & 1:45pm

danielriceart.net

blanche-niznik.com

PASTEL: Landscapes

*****

Sunday, July 6th at 12 & 2 pm

ACRYLIC: Drawing & Painting on Clayboard

1) Annie Van Englen – “Untitled 1″

2) Annie Van Englen – “Untitled 4″

3) Annie Van Englen – “Untitled 2″

4) Annie Van Englen – “Untitled 3

5) No Label

6) No Label

7) Connie Tehada – “Polarbear”

Bryan Mandronico -”Untitled”

9) Bryan Mandronico – “Staint Sweetums”

10) Kelly Patton – “Stag Beetle: Dusk”

11) Kelly Patton – “The Puppeteer”

12) Kim McCarthy – “Untitled”

13) Unlabeled

14) Unlabeled

15) Connie Cagley – “Quetzalcoat 1″

*****

The FREE demo this Saturday at the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store is Acrylic painting, and Sunday is “Come Paint with Staff” with DANIEL SMITH Ultimate Acrylic Paint.

DON’T FORGET Dianna’s Workshop July 23rd Bellevue Store!

Diana Shyne Workshop
Wednesday July 23rd

With Dianna Shyne

Join impressionist painter Dianna Shyne in a distinctive approach to acrylic painting.  Dianna will show you her techniques with a combination of fluid and

heavy bodied acrylics to create dynamic images.  Using landscapes for the basis of composition and form, students will learn to increase their freedom and control.

Start your summer with a painting class that is fast paced, fun, and inspirational!

$75 per day

11 am to 4 pm

001 020 057

SPECIAL Hands-on Event

This Weekends FREE Demos at the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store

Saturday, June 7th at 11am and 1:45 pm

Annie Van Engelen
Annie will be showing the new and exciting
acylic pouring medium by LIQUITEX

* Notice *
Sharon Tietjen’s

Sunday, June 8th at 12 & 2 pm

SUMI: Sumi-Lotus Breeze
Yuming Zhu

This weekends FREE demos at the DANIEL SMITH  Bellevue Store

SPECIAL EVENT Saturday, May 31st from 1 to 3:30 pm

Sunday, June 1st at 12 & 2 pm

Come to the FREE demo and meet Molly ton learn more

about Garden Journaling, and to find out if Mollys’

Workshop in June would be good for you.

WATERCOLOR: Garden Journal with

Molly Hashimoto
Back by popular demand!

Fine-tune your skills for summer by taking one of Molly’s

most loved workshops.

Bring your own favorite photos and catalogs

to create beautiful pages of studies, sketches,

and small landscape plans.

Many different techniques will be demonstrated for you to find

the ones that work best for your journals and artistic purposes.

Bring a blank journal, or cut paper to size for a journal

that you can put together after the workshop is over.

Instructions will also be provided.

$75 per day

11 AM to 4:00 PM

001 020 069

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