Timing is everything

Yesterday would have been a perfect painting day, but I’m a native of these here parts. I knew it was probably the last day we had to winterize before Mother Nature dumps snow on us. So my laddie and lassies and I moved and stacked the seven face cords of wood we’ll need this winter, raked the turf and swept the driveway, rolled up the hoses, trimmed the roses, and put things away for the season. We get lots of snow here in Rochester, and not being prepared gums up the works.

Conversely (and perversely) the day we met to shoot my how-to-paint video was miserably cold and windy. Why can’t Mother Nature cooperate?

Serina Mo filming.

But Serina Mo did a GREAT job with it, and I've learned just how much of a Buffalo accent I really have. Enjoy!

I will be teaching in Acadia National Park next August. Message me if you want information about the coming year’s classes or this workshop.

Suffering to be beautiful

Serina Mo and yours truly, filming in Mt. Hope Cemetery. (Photo by Chad Dusenbery.)

Yesterday I made a painting tutorial with Serina Mo. This project has been delayed because of equipment problems, so we were running later in the season than we'd intended. Sunday dawned clear, windy and very cold.

I’m accustomed to painting in cold weather, and I have the clothes for it. But they are ratty and I felt I needed to look more respectable for video. However, it was colder than I’d imagined was possible. Even with thermals under my clothes, three hours in the wind was too long. I finished before the picture was done, because my hands were too cold to control the paintbrush. “The rest is just details,” I’m fond of telling my students, and this is certainly true when the light is right. (I was so cold when I got home that I didn’t even take a photo of the finished painting, which is still in my car.)

My sketch for the painting.

RIT seems to be on a roll developing Bright Young Things for the animation industry, and Serina is one of them. I met her through one of her co-workers at Workinman. These kids blow me away with their abilities in 2D and 3D animation. Their fundamental training is very good, and it comes through when they take up traditional painting, where the only question they have is how paint itself works. In terms of color theory, composition and drawing, they’re as well trained as any art school graduates I know.

The scene in question. I love the diagonals of the oaks.

So I’m confident knowing that this video is in Serina’s competent hands, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Filming my lovely little easel. (Photo by Chad Dusenbery.)

Message me if you want information about the coming year’s classes and workshops.