"Block study #1", 16x12, oil on masonite

SOLD
"Block Study #1", 16x12, oil on masonite

We started John Ebersberger's workshop last week with a slideshow that started with the birth of Impressionism in France, and how it eventually came to New England, through Charles Hawthorne, who was a student of William Merrit Chase, and who came to found the Cape Cod School of Art about a hundred years ago.

Hawthorne was a proponent of block studies outdoors, and that is how we spent the first day of Ebersberger's workshop. Since I had never done these block studies before, I was excited to try them. It is amazing how hard they are to actually do! Painting outdoors is challenging to begin with, but when thinking about keying objects to the light temperature and using a palette knife to aplly the paint in the blazing sun, it can get a little overwhelming. Luckily, this first study was actually a good start for me. John was pleased with it, and when I brought it home I decided not to mess with it.

I will hopefully use this study for future outdoor still lifes painted in the Henry Hensche method of impressionism.

"Sophie the Mudhead", 12x16

"Sophie the Mudhead", 12x16, oil on masonite

I took a workshop last week with master impressionist John Ebersberger at The Southern Atelier. John studied with Henry Hensche during the last 10 years of the artist's life. John has certainly mastered this amazing style of painting in the impressionist manner, started by Charles Hawthorne over 100 years ago. John's paintings are filled with beautiful soft color and dynamic palette knife strokes.

We started the workshop by going back to the basics and painting block studies in the hot Florida sun. Over the weekend we headed over to Sarasota Bay and painted live models all day long. John is a hoot and we all learned a great deal about this technique while having an enjoyable time as well. All weekend there were fish literally flying out of the water every couple of minutes which added some levity to trying to learn a technique that is certainly not easy to master. We used a palette knife for every painting, but John allowed us to take out the brushes during the final afternoon.

This painting probably looked a bit more Hensche-esque before I messed around with it today, but nonetheless I was happy with the result.

John is a wonderful painter, teacher and a lot of fun. I'm very glad that I took the workshop and hopefully John will return next year to do another one in Sarasota!


To learn more about Henry Hensche and his teaching methods, , please visit the Hensche foundation website here.

Happy Valley, 12x24

SOLD "Happy Valley"- 12x24, oil on masonite panel



I titled this new painting Happy Valley because I think it would be impossible to be unhappy if one lived in such a pretty place!



a Painting a day, Daily painters, original art , affordable art, painting of poppy field, colorist art,contemporary impressionism,contemporary landscapes, oil paintings with impasto.