Painting Workshop in India

This week I wanted to share some pictures from a painting workshop some friends and I hosted last month. About fifteen ladies from our neighborhood came and painted a landscape of aspen trees. Typically I paint with oils, but because this was the first workshop I've hosted, we decided it would be easier to use acrylics because they dry fast and are less of a hassle.

I chose a photograph for us to work from that could be simplified if needed, that had depth, and that contained other teaching elements like contrasting values and lines and colors. Aspens anyways are a personal favorite subject for me to paint.

Some of the ladies were experienced painters, and some hadn't painted in years. One lady told me the last time she painted was in high school fifty years ago and since then she has looked for some opportunity to pick up a paint brush again! Another artist was painting with me in the front, which was valuable because I wanted to encourage originality and personal style in each ones' painting. In India, art is not encouraged at a young age because it does not guarantee a future. When they are required to create something, it's always according to a certain pattern. I wanted to encourage the ladies to use free expression in their painting. I did not want them to feel confined to recreate exactly what was on my canvas. Many first time painters want specific instructions–mostly out of nervousness from the task–about exactly which colors I used, the lines I make, etc., so I had to find a balance in guiding them and forcing them to use their creative license.

Indian art seems to be more geometric and contemporary in style, with indigenous influences, which is not a style with which I am familiar. Maybe one day we'll reverse the roles and they can teach me the kind of expression that comes most naturally and speaks most deeply to them. My art tends to be impressionistic. I am young, so I explore different techniques and copy other paintings to help teach myself about different styles, but more than anything, color speaks to me. The style I've found that I can best express color is impressionism, so that is the style I teach in a workshop or when I paint with someone. This requires another balance: I do not want to force anyone to forsake their personal or preferred style just to copy mine, but at the same time I want to encourage other painters to expand their abilities by learning an unfamiliar technique if impressionism is new to them.

This is me during the beginning stages of the painting blocking in the colors and values.

 At the end of the workshop, we had fifteen very different, unique finished paintings. Everyone enjoyed it, and the beginners surprised themselves that they could actually create a painting with their own hands. This brought me great joy because God gave us expressive, individual, creative minds, and that day we discovered them, used them and stretched them. As an art lover living in a place where science and technology rules, giving people the opportunity to experiment in art was fulfilling and exciting.

Here are several more photos of the group, their paintings and their process to get to the finished piece.

I limited everyone to three relatively large brushes and one smaller one to prevent them from focusing on minute details with a small brush. It took me years to let go to capturing every single detail, but this was one way that helped me.

Everyone worked from a 12x16 canvas, which was big enough to give them room to work and small enough to complete within three hours

It's always important to study your subject before starting the painting. I look at composition, contrasts I can emphasize in color, value and edges, as well as the tint of my lighting for the painting.

It's a good thing Indians don't mind sitting on the ground; otherwise we would have had to rent chairs and tables for everyone.

The first step is to tone the canvas using a neutral color to cover the canvas so that no white shines through on the finished product.

Using the same color (burnt sienna) we sketched the composition or layout of the painting. Sometimes I give a 3 minute time limit on this step because I don't want them to be too detailed. It will be painted over anyways.

Summer Show July 2012

My family is blessed with good friends who love supporting and promoting my artwork. The first time I had a show was fall of my junior year of college. A good family friend–and also my orthodontist–hosted the event at his house (but let's be real, his wife and my mom did all the work while I was in classes). I displayed about 40-50 pieces. Most were for sale, but others were part of the collection that I just can't let go of. Unfortunately I did not document that show as well as the second one, which was held in July 2012, before I moved to India. This most recent show was hosted by another good friend–my dentist (you'd think I had terrible teeth as a child)– and displayed about 60 pieces ranging from small to large paintings and a few drawings.

I took pictures of the layout. They were gracious enough to take down almost everything from their walls to fit 60 paintings in the downstairs of their house. My mom and I had a lot of help from a local framing warehouse who lent us nice frames and easels to display the paintings. We also made sure each painting had some kind of light shining on it. Presentation is everything. Putting a nice frame on a painting will bring it to the next level and helps the viewers picture it already in their house. I sold several paintings and got many commissions because of the show. As a young artist, I had a variety of pieces in the show as my style is still developing and many paintings were studies to expand my learning. Some people keep a very limited selection of less than thirty paintings for a show, but we could not get that low. I used several of our friends to help us select the paintings we would use, and it surprised me how paintings that I hated were someone else's favorite. You never know what will speak to someone. For this reason we kept the number pretty large (around 60), and I was surprised in the end at some of the paintings that sold.

My friend designed an invitation for me, then the hosts sent it out to their guest list. We decided to have two different times, a couple hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening. The morning was much more relaxed, and gave some people the chance to see my work before bringing their husbands back after work. We had refreshments and music, creating a nice, relaxing atmosphere.

Some of the paintings like the sunset on the piano bench had a short paragraph of what the painting meant to me. In this case, my friends and I watched this sunset over the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica when we did a summer study abroad for Spanish classes. Most of the paintings from Brasil had a description as well, telling bits and pieces about my experiences with those people.

 To avoid the stress of watching people examine my artwork, I did a demonstration during the show that was auctioned off by the end. People were amazed seeing how a painting can come from looking like scribble and splotches of color to a complete painting. This is the Old Main building on the University of Arkansas' campus, a very recognizable landmark to any Razorback fan.

This is a painting of Indian kids who were standing on a pile of rubble in a slum. Their eyes spoke to me, and I was moved by the dependence of a toddler on his young sister. The child on the left is looking out for them on all sides. It amazes me now that I live in India how much street kids are exposed to at a young age and how they have to survive. 

What Now? (12x12)

I love working in charcoal as well. Below is a drawing of an Indian woman that I displayed at the show. I had these two pieces on a table along with a flyer describing what I would be doing in India for the next two years. The show helped me raise money for living here and to build up some sort of savings once I get back. Also on the flyer I wrote about God's love for all the peoples of the world and asked for prayer while I had the chance to be interacting with them.