Last week I took a three day workshop with Kim English. If you are not familiar with Kim's work, google his name and you will be in for a treat! He is one of the finest impressionists in America today!
Kim enjoys painting street scenes and integrating people into his paintings and that was what our group focused on last week.
Kim had us do 5 minute paintings with a live model, after which we had about ten seconds to wipe it all out and get ready to start over again! It was hard, but by afternoon most of us had settled into the routine. By the third day we were doing 20 and 30 minute paintings, which was a true luxury after the 5 minute sketches!
Kim is an excellent teacher and I think I learned a lot from his workshop. One thing I want to do now, is get better at painting figures in plein air landscapes.
So today, I painted the scene above from a photo I took last week of our model on location. My goal in this painting was to make an interesting design, something that I don't normally think about. I liked the small pieces of light from the parasol, skirt and footbridge integrated into a mostly dark-valued composition. I have a lot more to think about now, when I paint. Hopefully, that's a good thing!
Available through Collector's Gallery in downtown , Venice, Florida.
