Apple - 20 Stroke Exercise - We did this exercise in Barbara Jaenicke's Class today.   I've also seen Karen Margulis do this.    It's harder than you think but a very beneficial exercise.   You sketch a simple apple shape.   Then choose several colors and paint in fewer than 20 strokes.   

Landscape - 100 Stroke Exercise -  This exercise was one of the most difficult.   We had a simple reference photo.   After sketching in the major shapes you paint in 100 or fewer strokes.    The point is to make the most effective use of each stroke placement and to not "over work" the painting.   Overworking the painting creates "mud".   I'm pretty good at making mud.   My goal is to daily paint several small paintings limiting my strokes until I feel more comfortable with lighter and fewer strokes.    You do begin to see the color layers better.  

"Bowl & Apples" - Pastel - Still Life

"Bowl & Apples" - Pastel - April 2012
This week the pastel class did a still life of bowl and apples.   I quickly made the mistake of making the focus to large. I ended up with lots of blank paper.   I cropped the initial sketch to zoom in on the focal point.  I had to use the sketch values to get the lights and darks.   I definitely want to set up another one under lights and give myself time to work completly from the still life.    This class was from Barbara Jaenicke's weekly pastel class.  

Euharlee Covered Bridge - This is a pastel.   I sketched the bridge and did a study in watercolor but decided it would look better in pastel.    I visited this bridge this month with some friends.   It just above Cartersville, GA in Euharlee, GA.     It was built in 1886 by Washington King.   There is a small museum by the bridge.  There is a place to picnic just over the bridge by the river.  You can walk over this bridge.   A good day trip.  Stop by the Booth Western Museum while you are there.   There are historic covered bridges all over the USA.   My goal is to visit fourteen of the covered bridges in GA this year and paint each one.  

Marsh Version #2 - This is another version of the marsh from a black and white reference photo.   It is done in pastels.   My goal before next class is to organize my pastel box by values.  It one of those things you are asked to do from the beginning and I've put it off.  

Marsh - Pastel - April 2012
This was a good exercise in class this week.    We had a black and white reference photo of a marsh.   We did a thumb nail sketch to get the values.   Then we painted from any colors.   Obviously I had a hard time getting away from the black and white feel.  I'm going to try it again.   Love the scene.   Barbara Jaenicke was the instructor.  Check out her website and blog.  She did this same scene.  Beautiful!.