Carl Purcell Workshop - Tucson, AZ

I have returned from the Carl Purcell workshop I attended with my good friends, Arlen and Nan. We had such a great time together, although we were all three challenged for three days of intense focusing on a painting style that took us way outside our comfort zones. But, in my opinion, one would have no need to attend a workshop that did not do that....shake us up and give us another slant on painting! Two of our paintings the projected reference photo was inserted in the projector upside down and that is how we were to paint them, upside down (the painting was turned upside down...not the artists!) My poor brain was hurting after that exercise! Here we are together at the beginning session.
The painting of the elderly lady was one that I choose to show you that was the demo done by Carl, mine will never see the light of day! It was a lesson in defining the shapes within a painting by value shifts and color shifts as opposed to painting the face, and the skirt, and the apron, etc. We had to paint this in 20 minutes!
Carl tends to be a very demonstrative workshop instructor and uses an enthusiastic, whole-body approach to making a point. This is the fifth workshop I have attended by him and I always just learn so much. I choose not to paint totally in his style, but so much of what he says just works its way into my "style" of painting and is always valuable information.