Mary B Spires Watercolor & Art Stuff

12" x 12" Oil on Canvas Painting in the impressionist style is soooooooo much FUN!  I've been studying William Schultz, Brackman, Frederick Carl Frieseke and my all time favorite  Frank W. Benson all American impressionist.  I have discovered that they all talk about " The Mechanics of Painting"  the 5 Steps that Jerry Fresia uses.  Each having a different twist.

8" x 10" Oil on Board As many of you know I'm schedule to take a workshop on Lake Como next fall with Jerry Fresia ( http://www.fresia.com/  ).  He also has a 3 minute video on You Tube and a wonderful instrucitonal book, plus two small books of his  paintings.......Wednesday afternoon in the Pumprey's class I copied one of his paintings .....just to get the feel of what his brush strokes felt like....what an eye opening experience.  I painted it in one hour on a Masonite board with a soft hair brush.  I first scumbled in the dark and middle values per his instructions. The squinting thing is sooooo important......this morning I actually used my computer to blur the image.....this is a great help in seeing the dark, middle and light shapes.