What a great day!

There's only a few activities that will get me up early on a Saturday....at the top of the list is a paint out with my art buddies.... or right "up there" is an opportunity to learn something new or strengthen a certain skill. Today, I attended a portrait painting workshop lead by a great painter, Don Mullins of Ft. Worth, Texas. Myself and 10 other artists spent the day trying to capture a good likeness of our model. Portrait painting requires a whole different set of skills, focus, and colors. With a landscape, I'm making "broad" observations, moving a tree here & there to make a better composition, using nature's palette of greens, golds, Reds, & Blues. A portrait is a different mindset...I don't have the "option" to change the shape of the nose or make different hair; I must paint shapes, lights & shadows as they relate to each other with the final result being a likeness of the person sitting before me. Here's my project of the day.

"Tom Dodge"

12 x 16

Watercolor on 140# CP Arches