This is going to be a plein air workshop, Saturday and Sunday, April 16 and 17th. It will include the basics of on location painting techniques…instruction in color, design, composition and how to get the most of being on location. This is an intense, straight forward approach and I will answer any and all questions regarding plein air painting.

We will paint the beautiful Mississippi landscapes that surround my studio in Bailey. My mission statement is to teach as much as possible in a 2 day workshop and send each and every student away with a better understanding of what plein air painting is all about. The workshop will include painting demonstrations, critiques, group and individual instruction. A block of rooms at a local hotel will be reserved at a discount. There is limited enrollment so reserve your place now. The workshop is $200 plus your hotel room with a nonrefundable deposit of $100. Upon enrollment, a materials list and hotel information will be provided. SIGN UP NOW – limited enrollment.

My dad was the greatest influence of my painting career. He took the time to start me painting at the age of 5, and was the one that encouraged me to become an artist. His paintings followed a strong New England tradition of style, as did Emile Gruppe’, Edward Harrington and Marshall Joyce as well as many other great New England painters. The key to this as well as many of his other works is a strong control of the viewers eye. A very simple composition is important as well and a way of leading the viewer into the painting while creating an emotional response. He would tell me one must edit at all times to create a strong point of view and he would say “what you leave out is just as important if not more than what you put in”. This was a lesson it try to keep in mind every time i approach the canvas.

This is a large studio piece I did from a smaller painting done on location one summer night this past summer. There was this typical red clay road leading through the field towards the sunset. Earlier that day was the tail end of a summer storm so the cloud formation was just absolutely beautiful. At just the right moment I tried to capture the suns light reflecting under the storm clouds. I love this effect. This piece was 48×60 inches. The on location piece was a 16×20 size piece.

This is one of the many places I return to paint plein air. I start to paint and hold off until the right moment to capture the sunset at its best moment. I tried to compose this painting with the sun right on the “golden section”. I always try to avoid placing where I want the viewer to look in the middle of the canvas or sectioning up the canvas in “halves”. I do this by trying to think mostly in terms of thirds or odd numbers. Its seems much more interesting when doing so! I hope you enjoy the piece as much as I did creating it!