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Saturday, January 03, 2015

Summer Painting School with Gregory Smith


Greg conducts summer school on Saturdays in January.
I had a day-off today, and this is the only session I can attend due to my work, so, I was very excited.

This is Queens Park in Essendon, north west of Melbourne.





Unfortunately, it was an incredibly hot day, 41˚C. Understandably there were many people who couldn't make it. In total, there were only two people including me.

I have a highest respect for Greg. Today he was as enthusiastic about teaching as he always is, under this stifling condition, saying that he's not doing this for making money, but, for the love of painting.
How many artists can say that? 
It's really the greatest privilege to learn painting with him.

So, my painting.
I learned a lot today. Starting from initial Raw Umber block-in. I was already fiddling. He showed me  how to get a big block of shapes right at a very early stage, so that we can see overall jigsaw puzzles.

And then, start to focus on a few areas, in this case, a tea house and an island on the right.
I particularly enjoyed the way he did water. Vertical strokes of light first, then softly blend it with horizontal strokes. Voila!

And the most important lesson today is, "Dark, Dark, Dark!". I mean, as long as there are darks, we can always lighten it up later, very easily.
In other words, if there's no dark, there is not going to be any light.
One has to be brave to put darks first, but, the reward from it will be enormous.

Later, he did a demo, watching him painting is always a fascinating experience. It's really like a magic. Just in a matter of two hours, he created a great piece of art. 

It was a great day with Greg.



Oil on panel. 16 x 20 in.



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