Holbein Art Event in Burlington

This is a little known event, at least in Montreal. And yet, the quality of the instructors is top notch. The details about this year's event can be found here - definitely worth a look.

This year, I went for a full day workshop with Bob Burridge. A full day indeed - from 3:30AM till 9PM - driving, painting and then driving back. 

I brought back 6 warm-ups, 3 unfinished collage paintings with the theme "Claustrophobia", a bag full of goodies from the store and many pearls of wisdom from Bob. 

​The warm-ups - 2 min speed sketching. We were given words as topics - kiss, claustrophobia, to gather, calm etc. 

These are 3 paintings on the theme Claustrophobia - works in progress.

And finally the bounty:

I came back energized and looking forward to doing more painting. Bob shared a lot of usefule tips, but few things really hit home.

1. The importance of having a theme and a title from the beggining. This in turn informs decisions later in the process and keeps things cohesive. Many a time I would paint something only to scratch my head in the end searching for a title that never came.
2. The importance of picking the composition type and establishing the focal point, as well as the values, from the beggining. Really!
3. The Importance of following the goof proof palette. It works wonders. Pick the color scheme from the beggining!
4. The importance of covering the whole paper or canvass with the middle value of the dominant color.​

Working in series alows for a more detailed exploration of the theme. I am planning to do more series, maybe landscape explorations or flowers.