Workshop Study

Oil Painting in progress....this is an update on the work that is in progress from the Wimmer workshop. It's coming along.

Meet Mike

Slideshow http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/padurrett/?action=view&current=7782b4dc.pbw

Meet Oklahoman, Mike Wimmer...what a talented and successful artist!
It was a productive and informative two day portrait workshop. For the first time in a workshop, I actually got my painting blocked in with the underpainting. Using a very limited palette, the ground work was laid.



The second day, I worked mainly on the face and had there been more time, I would have built up the values in layers. I was a little disappointed that Mike did not get to my easel to instruct me personally. It could be that the class was just to large to do that but it did seem that he spent most of his time on the other side of the room.

Anyhow, he is a charming man with a very pleasing way and great broad smile that is infectious. His ideas are clever and I can tell he is very intelligent.

The only thing is that I worry that he is using Liquin which the artists I know have had problems with. It peels sometimes and in lots of discussion on the Cennini Forum about plastics and how they break down with age, I fear Mike will one day have a whole lot of ruined paintings. That would be tragic.

Another thing I could not agree with him on is his fear of turpentine. Yet, mineral spirits has just as much toxicity. Expensive triple distilled turpentine is VERY expensive and does not have as strong an odor as hardware store cheap turpentine and every studio should have adequate ventilation ... period. Mike didn't seem to have a problem with fixative spray and that is far more dangerous to the lungs than turpentine's fumes. Everyone knows that turpentine is used drop by drop as an additive to oil paint that causes a chemical reaction whereby the paint will dry from the inside out not the other way round and thereby lessening the possibility of a skin to form. Turpentine is NOT used to clean brushes; mineral spirits is for that.

As Rob Howard, moderator on the Cennini Forum says, some artists have drunk the cool-aid on this matter from the environmental wackos and this fear is not based in reason.

In the studio an artist must....

• develop good, safe habits working in a well ventilated studio

• NEVER ever put brush handles in their mouths ... whether using turpentine or mineral spirits and especially when painting with cadmium paint colors
  

• always properly washes their hands before leaving the studio...always

• NEVER eat anything at the easel

• NEVER allow children in the studio
  

• always uses PAINTER'S SAFETY SOAP in the final hand wash which is designed to react to the toxic chemicals and release them from the pores of skin.

Painter's Safety Soap® along with the greatest brush cleaner ever made ... Ugly Dog® Brush Soap may be purchased at Studio Products, a professional boutique paint manufacturer. www.studioproducts.com. Ugly Dog...I would never be without it!

ALSO, I learned that to put a protective finish on a painting, you must use a special fine quality varnish and on top of that a thin coat of wax that may be polished to a absolutely gorgeous sheen which is museum quality. The wax may be removed as the painting ages and gets dirty ... back to the varnish and then a new coat of wax applied. THAT is how you do it.

Anyhow, this only shows how valuable my training was at the Cennini Boot camps, especially the Technical Boot Camp.

The other issue is just a preference. I was taught to paint the eyes last while Mike paints them first...just a preference and not as critical. I don't know whether it was just time for me to go to another plateau of learning or if it was Mike's simple presentation and method but I've improved and felt like I knew exactly what I was doing. It was just a great workshop and I am so proud that a native son has done so well as an artist.

One other thing. Mike is a Christian and it is evident in his the portraits of his children. He placed them in heroic fairy tales and Bible stories ... painting them throughout their childhood. How clever.

Mike Wimmer Portrait Workshop

The Portrait Workshop is coming up thank the Lord!!! I am praying that I will get something out of this two day event at the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum. I'm still planning a portrait of my daughter in her wedding gown a challenge to my skill and creativity. Subject matter so trite, how can it be fresh and interesting and say something about the bride?

www.mikewimmer.com

I will blog about this and my continuing Life Drawing Class with Glen Thomas at City Arts studios.

Since September when my daughter got engaged and with the demanding Christmas and New Years activities, I've been unable to sketch or paint except for some Tuesday nights at the City Arts Life Drawing sessions.

It seems impossible.

I just can't get into anything serious with all of these distractions. Sometimes I think if earning a living as an artist would demand studio time and be beneficiary stress. Now I am in tax season and it falls on me to do all of the grunt work in Quicken and Excel files.

Sometimes I feel like running away to some far away place to work. Will I ever become productive and what is holding me back? Maybe it is the inferiority complex I have about my work. I'm pretty ordinary and "ordinary" has never inspired nor motivated me.