painting in a crowd

Afternoon day 2 in Mark Mehaffey's plein air workshop. We headed over to my neck of the woods, in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore... Where the Platte River flows into Lake Mi.
It was incredibly crowded, sunny and challenging! This gentleman was sitting reading a book...until he wasn't anymore...:-) Oh the challenges of plein air! Painting live in a crowd is not for wimps!
Full disclosure...I did fix a number of things back in the studio.

Robert Burridge Workshop....wow!

"Light as a Feather" by Robert Burridge


If you ever have the opportunity to take a workshop from Bob Burridge, DO IT!!! I have never learned so much in 5 days. His "Abstract Acrylic Painting and Collage" workshop, at Dillman's Resort was chock full of techniques, encouragement, inspiration and his wacky humor.

For me, the juice of this workshop was learning to develop a series of work that comes from your soul...A series that's broad enough to last you a while....but narrow enough in it's intent to unite all of the pieces. A big "ah-ha" realization.

Another "big" idea for me, was the small warm-up paintings he suggests you do before you tackle your larger, more complicated works in progress....Actually, now that I'm reflecting on it...there were a ton more "big" ideas that I got from Bob's class! At the very least....pop over to his website and subscribe to his "ArtsyFartsy" newsletter...You'll be glad you did.

Below are 2 paintings that I completed during the workshop....Yup....this is the beginnings of my new series....stay tuned to see and hear more about it!


"The Grass is Greener" 10 x 11 Acrylic (above) (sold)

"Star Climber" 10 x 11 Acrylic (below) (sold)

Quote of the Day:

"To play it safe is not to play." – Robert Altman

Computer woes and other news...

First the good news! "Bass Dreams" got an Honorable Mention at the Starkweather Gallery 12 x 12 show. Yea!!!! The show runs from October 3 through the 25th. If you are in Romeo Michigan, it's worth a look-see!

Now the bad news....My computer hard drive died yesterday...luckily I had backed up most of everything...but it still takes forever for me to figure out how to re-load everything!
grrrrrrrrr.

But now more good news...I'm leaving Saturday for a Bob Burridge workshop at Dillman's Bay Resort in Wisconsin. My friend Sue Galos and I are heading north tomorrow morning...driving through Michigan's upper peninsula and arriving sometime Sunday. The workshop is Monday through Friday and should be just fantastic! So, I probably won't be posting until the week after next.

Looking forward to some beautiful fall color, and some inspiring workshop ideas!