Portraits Workshop with Mary Whyte and my painting from it!

Starstruck?  Mmm hmm.  That pretty much describes it.

This photo made it into the local paper!  

Her new book - favorite part of it - there are detailed photos of her paintings, like the skin on an arm or a face.  Really cool.

As far as I'm concerned, Mary Whyte is one of the best watercolorists working today.  Her paintings are just alive.  They're so emotional and connective and captivating.  And her subject matter in her recent exhibits examines the lives of hard working people in jobs that are slowly disappearing from our country and economy.  Something that just sort of tugs at my heartstrings.  I just find that when I'm looking at them, I wonder about the person's story.  It's not just a portrait of a girl tending beehives.  It's a life of learning a skill while you're friends are going to the movies or the mall.  But, there's no resentment in that, you can see the pride that she takes in doing her job.  Did her grandfather teach her this?  Where are they able to do this?  What beautiful flowers and types of pollen are feeding these bees?  Is this able to support her completely?  Does she even like the smell of honey?  And on and on and on.

Her workshops usually fill up really quickly, so when I was able to find out about one before they officially announced it, I was super excited to be able to sign up and go.  "To be able to go" was a little tougher than I thought.  It involved a nine hour drive across Montana to Bozeman, a flight from Bozeman to Charleston, then a drive from Charleston to Youngstown, OH (where the workshop was) and then a stand-by flight from Pittsburgh to Bozeman.  And then a drive back to Lambert.

But every second was completely worth it.  

Other terrifying part...  We were painting portraits in the middle (!!) of an open museum atrium.  Yes, that's an Andrew Wyeth across from me, there's a Mary Cassatt through that door and an Edward Hopper in the adjacent room.

First of all, it was completely out of my comfort zone.  The ONLY time I have ever painted ANY portrait was in high school and it was of my brother when he was a baby playing at the beach.  It turned out pretty good, but when it's been so long, you can't even think of whether or not you could do it again.  And, what do I find out after the workshop was paid for, it's a PORTRAIT ONLY workshop.  She has other workshops that work with landscapes and more across the board skills, so I assumed this would be what was going on.  So, I went in absolutely terrified.

But I wrote down every little tidbit of knowledge I could and tried to be fearless and I am happy with what I was able to achieve.  

My favorite things I learned:

1. Painting watercolors on an easel.  Have never done this!  Probably will never go back.  I've always painted before in only a slightly elevated position (like a drafting desk) or completely flat.
2. Mary paints her skin tones really with only three colors:  ultramarine blue, raw sienna, and quin. rose or permanent rose.  This was REALLY awesome to see her practice.
3. Quote of the Day "Nothing in these paintings is exactly what I saw but it's as close as I can exactly how I felt."
4. In determining your composition:  1. Pick a mother color - the majority of your painting should go back to that color scheme with accents.  2.  Then lines in your painting are very important - You should aim for either straight lines with a few curves or curved lines with a few straights.  3.  Focal points - place the greatest contrasts at these points, utilize complementary colors and have other features pointing towards that area.  (These things I kinda already knew, but are probably one of the harder things for me to put into practice.)

Another things I learned about was where to simplify.  I had tried loosely painting in the pattern on her shirt and I kept on trying to figure out why my composition was just not right.  I liked her face, hands, and the light on her veil and the background was okay.  But once she suggested scrubbing out the pattern it really just completely changed everything!

I've started on a few small paintings and hope to have those up soon to show everyone.  This workshop was just so great, I couldn't not share it!  Thank you Mom for everything and getting me to and from!  It was a great trip and I loved the time spent with you.  And on another thought, if you've made it this far.... the Butler Institute of Art in Youngstown, OH is crazy awesome.  They have an extremely impressive collection of paintings worth stopping at if you are passing through the area.