Getting Edgy

Alla Prima, final cut

Yesterday I got to take part in a workshop at the studio of Michelle Torrez. I did an earlier post about her work at Saks gallery here in Denver (www.saksgalleries.com). Look for an upcoming show in the winter months in Naples, Florida ( for those readers who live there). At any rate she has been working on renovating a new space for the past year for her studio. It was fun to see that, however looking at my photos I can see I didn't really take photos of it. Just let me say, it's a lovely place in which to work.

Heather and Skye working on their final painting.

During the workshop we painted from 9 AM to 4 Pm, with a lunch break. We had a model in the morning and did 1 minute gesture drawings, then 5 minute paintings (I was the only pastel painter the rest were oil painters), then we did 10 minute and finally 20 minute paintings. In the afternoon we worked from a photo taken of the model in the AM, an worked on using our former paintings and the photo to create a painting.

Morning reference painting.

The take away for me from this workshop was to be aware and to work with a variety of edges rather than always making a hard edge.  Now the other thing I loved was the gesture drawings and drawing the body when you could not see it, that is it is hidden by clothes,etc. That happened a lot as the model was wearing a great long, white, fluffy tulle skirt. So the day was filled with good ideas and the work of the other students was motivating. A great way to spend a Saturday.