Inspiration

Being creative means taking the time to learn your craft.  For me that means picking up my brushes and being present at the easel.  Once in a while a little inspiration  is useful.   Thanks to a travel grant from the PEI Crafts Council, I was able to attend a Portrait Painting Workshop with Carolyn Anderson in Lowell, Michigan in the fall of 2019.
Carolyn is a well received American portrait artist from Montana.  Each day we were given a demonstration of her approach, colours, brushwork and then we faced the challenge of putting all that into practise in our own session with a model.  I was reminded to stand away from the easel so the details become less important, to look for interesting passages and to experiment with colour (if something doesn't work, try again)  As a group we benefited from Carolyns' experience and understanding of her subject matter.  I have a lot to think about and absorb (21 pages of notes).  Slowly the tips about using a bigger brush, standing back, relating one colour to another, 
finding doorways from one passage to another will become natural reminders in portrait
painting.  For the past few years I have been working on a series of Sixty Women and this workshop has given me the courage to finish and present this group of paintings.

​ Carolyn Anderson demonstrates painting from a model

Carol Andersons painting 

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My work from the workshop