The painting workshop was very laid back and the instructor Larine was very knowledgeable about not only painting from flowers but oil painting in general. We started with a talk of materials and how to use them best. Then Larine did a “Master Copy” demo. Here she taped up an image of a flower still life from Fantn Latour with her canvas right next to it then laid down a dark oil and Gamsol wash in a square the same size of the photo.
After the wash she used her cloth to wipe out the light areas of the painting. Then she established the darker areas quickly with paint thinned heavily with Gamsol. This was a great way to establish the light and dark shapes through the entire painting quickly.
After her demo we used the exact same master still life picture to follow the same “wipe out” process. I loved doing the wipe out process, I think I may start all my paintings this way from now on. Not only does it establish the entire painting quickly but its very close to charcoal which I love.
After the master copy was done and we had lunch, we all picked from one of many still already setup with flowers and began to paint from it. Going from a two dimensional image where all the hard parts are worked out for you then straight into painting from life was difficult, but I used the same wipe out process I think the painting turned out quite well. Of course I have a very long way to go before I can be as good as Fontin Latour, but I believe its a good start.
Two other artists works that we looked at for inspiration was Jacob Collins, and Michael Klein.
