thoughtful painter.....a humbling experience

this past week i attended a realistic watercolor class....now, if you follow my blog regularly or if you are new and are simply looking around- you will notice that realistic and watercolor are certainly not words that are found here very often. so this week was a very humbling experience for me...reminding me that was much as i think i know about art- there is always more to learn.

so as an artist, i should be able to learn key concepts from any good artist of any media. i was happy to join in this class last minute. our instructor was Andy Evansen.

he was an excellent teacher and re-enforced his concepts all week. he was a very "thoughtful" painter- always thinking ahead of what his next move is and what he is working towards...mixing his paint and working through his painting. his concepts for the week:

1. do your value paintings- to work through light and dark issues ahead of time
2. paint big shape- do not get caught up in the details; always paint big to small
3. connect those shapes- your middle value should be one big, main shape and should provide a visual pathway through your painting

here were some of my value paintings and lessons for the week....

and here was me trying to blend my colors and let them wash together to help with the shape connections in my paintings.

somewhere along this week's journey, my mind goes back to concepts that i find comfort in and i revert back to what i know or like to do, but, i did incorporate some of these new concepts in this painting.