"Spring Creek" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

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"Spring Creek" half finished

Reference photo

Last Friday was the last day of Gregory Packard's workshop.  I was sneezing, headachy, and burning up with fever.  Besides, I had a two-hour drive back home on I-95 to deal with.  I could have skipped the last session, but you know me better.  I pulled out a photo of Holmes Run running through Green Spring Gardens Park in Alexandria, VA. Using the same palette as the day before, I painted "Spring Creek" quickly.  The grays have become a lot subtler in five days.  Even without darks and brights, the painting looked luminous.  Greg told me several times not to overwork the painting.

But Greg lives in Colorado and I am on my own now.  Ultimately, I am the one who has to live with the painting.  It looked chalky and unfinished.  So I got to work.  Please don't tell me I ruined it!

What did I learn in Greg's workshop?  I learned a lot about color harmony.  The whole point of mixing piles of grays with a limited palette is to ensure that all the colors in the painting are related to each other.  The predominance of grays--muted, grayed down colors--allows the bright colors to sing.  I am finally beginning to understand what Kevin Macpherson says in his two books.

During the workshop, I also experienced the southern hospitality firsthand.  After the plein-air painting session last Thursday, I was packing up to head back to the hotel.  A local artist whom I met a couple of days ago asked me if I would like to come to her house for a drink.  Of course!  After a nice cold beer on her deck, she asked me to stay for dinner.  After a delicious dinner her husband had prepared, she suggested a walk in the neighborhood park.  Wow.  I made a good friend that day.

The workshop organizers of the Richmond Art Workshops too went out of their way to make the workshop experience memorable.  After the Wednesday sessions, they took us to Laraze Gallery in Charles City, VA, about 45 minutes from Bon Air, VA.  This premier, privately-owned, gallery offers a breath-taking view of the James River.  Once you step inside, you are whisked away to the world of the Russian/Soviet Impressionist art.  You know what?  We were amazed to see how many paintings were made beautiful by the wondrous grays.

The view of the James River from the grounds of the Wurdeman family estate

Kathy Wurdeman on the right greeting us in the main level of Lazare Gallery

The upper level of Lazare Gallery

"Fine Creek Morning" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

sold

On the fourth day of Gregory Packard's workshop, which was last Thursday, the sun has returned to Richmond, VA.  The workshop organizers had kindly arranged a plein-air painting opportunity for us.  Following our fearless leader, Greg, we trekked for half an hour to the Mill at Fine Creek in Powhatan, VA. Yes, there were the romantic mill ruins, which have become an outdoor dining area and wedding venue.  But the real surprise was the creek itself.  The name apparently comes from General Robert E. Lee, who said that it was a fine creek.  I have never seen anything like it in Virginia.  The entire creek bed was rocks!

The romantic mill ruins at Fine Creek

Fine Creek

Workshop participants painting away

I decided to paint a scene facing the other way.

"Fine Creek Morning" half finished 

There was no shortage of beautiful sceneries: garden flowers, quaint houses, the mill ruins, the creek, etc.  But I didn't feel motivated.  Shocking, isn't it?  Kim Stenberg, a painting addict, not motivated in such a stimulating environment?  I didn't know it at that time, but I was coming down with a bad cold.  So I took a picture of the above scene that caught my eye and seemed "easy" to paint.  Unfortunately, by the time I was finished setting up my easel (it takes at least 15 minutes to set up the outdoor oil painting gear), the sun disappeared for the rest of the morning!  It actually rained a bit. Dang.

Do you know what I, a sick puppy, did?  I painted the scene from the LCD screen of my camera and memory!  Greg wasn't terribly impressed with my efforts; I wasn't either. The biggest problem with the half-finished painting was the composition.  If you look at it carefully, it is divided into a series of rectangles.  What's up with that?

I called it quits (good for me!), had a sandwich lunch with my new friends, and successfully persuaded Greg into doing a plein-air-painting demo.  I even helped him to unload and carry his painting gear.  He said that he was rusty because he hadn't painted outside for a year.  Tough.

On Monday, I worked on "Fine Creek Morning," focusing on correcting the compositional error.  I am pleased with the final painting.  Please leave comments about what you think!

"Primroses by Window" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

sold

On the third day of Gregory Packard's workshop, at our vigorous request, he did another demo, this time, from life.  As it turns out, he often paints from his photos.  We were all surprised to learn this.  As I have become "addicted" to painting from photos myself, I actually felt relieved.  There is no right way.  A beautiful painting is beautiful whether it was painted from life or from a photo.

For his second demo, Greg picked a still life setup someone had used the day before--wilting azaleas in a pretty striped ceramic vase.  It was another washout day.  Rain, rain, rain.  Virginia was becoming the Washington state.  The weak light from outside and the artificial light from above produced an unpromising lighting condition.  It was a test.  Could Greg Packard paint a vibrant still life in this challenging condition?

We sat there, mesmerized by how Greg brought life to wilting flowers and light to a still life.  As the light source was not strong, the painting was overall muted, quite different from his first demo painting.  Having struggled with the iris painting the day before, I was humbled and awed to see how he transformed what he saw into what he envisioned--fresh azaleas bathed in soft light.

After the demo, I painted "Primroses by Window," based on a photo I took at Petworth House in West Sussex, England in March.  My grays have become less garish; my greens, softer.  Just like in Greg's second demo painting, the lighting is muted here.  So I painted a gentle still life.  I was pleased.  I think Greg was pleased too.

"Azalea Woods" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold; "Iris Shadows" (oil on linen; 14" x 11") sold

sold

On the second day of Gregory Packard's workshop, Greg didn't do any demo.  What to do?  I did have some photos, but couldn't resist the fresh irises, azaleas, and many other flowers that some local workshop participants kindly brought from their gardens.  So I set out to do a still life painting of yellow and purple irises.  Boy, it was a big mistake!

My still life setup

"Iris Shadows" in original state

"Iris Shadows"
sold

Although the Bon Air Community Center, where the workshop was held, was a spacious, beautiful place, one thing it lacked was the spot lights.  Light was defused in the interior on a rainy day. There were shadows on the table, but they were faint. There were no distinct lit/shadow variations on the flowers.  I struggled for four hours, making up sunlight that didn't exist.  The yellow iris on the right opened up, so I had to change it from a bud to an open flower.

In the end, both Greg and I agreed that enough was enough.  The shadows were so big and dark that they competed with the flowers.  I filled the canvas with the flowers to the brim, so the painting became claustrophobic.  The flowers were overdone because I kept fiddling.

After I returned home, I decided to fix the painting.  Why not?  There was absolutely nothing to lose.  I introduced the table to break up the background.  I shrank and lightened the shadows.  I also decreased the size of some flowers and made some bluer, or purpler, etc. so that they were not all the same.  All in all, I think, the painting looks better.  It feels airy.

To get frustration out of system, I decided to do a landscape during the remaining hour.  I pulled out a photo of azaleas blooming in sunny woods.  Using the piles of paints on my palette, I whipped out "Azalea Woods" so fast that even I, a notoriously fast painter, was surprised at my speed.  Greg was impressed too.

The difference between the two painting experiences that day is that when I have a game plan, I paint decisively, assured of what I am doing.  When I try to make up things as I go along because I don't have a clue, no matter how hard I work at a painting, it goes nowhere!

"Spring Rock Garden" (oil on linen; 8" x 10")

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I just came back from the five-day workshop with Gregory Packard in Richmond, VA. As you may remember, I took another workshop two weeks ago with Dreama Tolle Perry, which blew me away.  What can I say?  I got blown away for the second time in a month.  It is exciting and bewildering to be esthetically challenged by two totally different approaches to painting.  So it will take some time for me to digest what I have learned this past month and make it part of my own esthetics.  I will share what I got out of the workshop with Greg in next several posts.  

The first thing I must say is that Greg Packard is a nice guy.  He is young in his late 30's and has already garnered fame and success that many artists would love to achieve but don't necessarily do.  You wouldn't know this by talking to him because he is such a down-to-earth and modest person.  But what about his art? He is famous for his gloriously vibrant floral still lifes.  Happily for the workshop participants, he did a demo of a peony painting on the first day.

Before the demo, however, he showed us how to mix grays.  Yes, grays turned out to be the secret to his art.  If you can mix lovely grays, you can create lovely paintings. That is Greg Packard's bottom line.

He squeezed out loads of paint onto his large palette.  Don't be stingy with paints.  He actually used an entire large tube of white paint for the demo painting!  We were awe-struck as he finished a dazzling 20" x 16" painting in just two hours.  And he did so by starting out with mid-tone grays.  He reserved the lights, darks, and bright colors until the last stage of the painting.  I have never seen anybody painting like this!

After the lunch break, it was our turn to paint.  I was so intimidated by the demo that I had a hard time getting started.  I picked the photo of a rock garden with phlox and sedum, mixed my own grays, and came up with "Spring Rock Garden."  Greg was profuse with praise.  What do you think of my "gray" painting?