“Painting the Red Rocks” was the theme of my February Watercolor painting workshop. Six artists joined me for the past two days to explore sketchbook drawing on location and studio painting back in the classroom at A Passion for Painting Art Studio. This was an exceptional class and each came away with several good paintings. Artists included workshop veterans Karen Bettilyon, Shari Cannon, and Gayla Folkman, joined by workshop newcomers Brienne Brown, Bonnie Head, and Daphne Schroth.
We enjoyed the good 65 degree weather as we went outdoors and sketched on location. The students had a chance to study values in the landscape first-hand as they learned about light, form shadows, cast shadows, and reflected light on the red rocks. Back in the classroom we used the knowledge we gained on location to work up value studies prior to painting several landscapes of the southern Utah red rock country.
Photos Top: Karen Bettilyon and Shari Cannon draw in their sketchbooks. Above: Brienne Brown works on a value study prior to painting back in the studio.
