Lair o' the Bear Day Two

Day two of Don Sahli's plein air oil painting class was also in the Lair o' the Bear, where beautiful views along Bear Creek abounded. We went a little ways downstream from yesterday. I finished my first painting, with Don's help, by noon.

Lair o' the Bear 3, oil 20" x 24":

As I was painting in the upper left area Don said, "Make that darker, I know you're going to put white on top of that. Look at that fallen tree." He took my brush and produced a deep purple, which he quickly used to draw in the fallen tree and the area around it, and repeated that color on the water to the lower left. Finally he quickly pointed to the sky and painted that color in two wavy spots on the water in the middle of the painting. I complimented him on not referring to those as reflections, but only as colors and values.

Don gave a class to begin this day, where he showed how to lay out the major views of the scene before us on his canvas.

He counted about 5-7 major areas, with the sky and the water clearly defined, and particular trees, fields, groups of foliage and the hills all had clear places in his initial sketched layout.

Then he went straight for the darkest darks.

He gave brief critiques of everyone's work from the day before. He complimented me on "how loose" I was with oils. "You obviously know what you're doing." he said. "But your problem--we all have problems--is that you pixelate, on and on." He said to make more contrasting areas, smooth as well as pixelated, horizontal and well as vertical. He compared me with Seurat.

My vest was a gift from Judy that I'd seldom worn, but now it was handy for warmth, and for keeping my paper towels and trash bags handy. To keep the trash bag from flapping around in the wind I literally tied it to myself, and was prepared to stuff it into one big pocket. Don made me keep a role of paper towels handy.

I set up for my second picture directly in Don's view. So he put me in his painting, answering my earlier question about if he put people in his paintings.

He said, "Jack saved my painting."

Lair o' the Bear by Don Sahli, oil 20" x 24":


When I completed my second painting, drawing some trees red as is my wont, he commented "Kinda red, white and blue, but it works."

Lair o' the Bear 4, oil 20" x 24":



Next post: Day Three