weekend with the masters: part 3

Have i mentioned that i’m tired?

Operationally, things have settled down into a groove and have begun to come down out of the atmosphere a bit. So, with a deep sigh of relief, I was able to participate much more in the day’s events. At the start of the morning sessions, i payed a short visit to Morgan Weistling’s workshop on the head study from life. I was really impressed with his teaching as well as with the quality i saw in many of the artists who were participating in that session. I hope i have the opportunity to see more if his workshops tomorrow. Then, after providing some lighting and setup help to Carolyn Anderson, I spent the rest of the morning session sitting in on Dan Gerhartz portrait demo. I really appreciate the passion and ferver with which he paints and teaches. It is truly inspiring. He always maintains such a positive and uplifting attitude.

For the afternoon session, i remained with Dan to continue into a portrait workshop; this time, i was blessed with the  opportunity to actually participate. I learned SO much. I learned not to create unrealistically high expectations for myself. I learned not to let my nerves get the best of me and throw off my focus. I learned to stretch myself by painting masses before details. I learned all of this by failing at every single one of them. Which brings me to my last and most important lesson of the day, which Dan so firmly, kindly, and lovingly reminded me of: Failure is an opportunity to learn. And in the arts, perhaps at times, more than success. Don’t allow failure to usher in discouragement. Discouragement is not constructive and you do not want to go there. Thank you Dan for your wonderful encouragement and teaching!!! You are truly a blessing.

Despite her extremely busy schedule, Nancy Guzik was kind enough to provide a critique of the painting i did yesterday, mentioned in the “part 2″ post. Thank you Nancy! I am so very grateful for that. Here’s the still life from day 2; working time – about an hour and a half:

Signing off for now to get some much needed sleep. Another big day tomorrow. Thank you Lord.