I haven't posted since early February, when my Tuesday/Thursday Berwyn class teacher, Carolyn Howard, passed away. Carolyn was a wonderful teacher and an even better critic; she always was able to put her finger on exactly the thing you needed to do to improve your painting. I was in awe of her astuteness. She died suddenly, after many years struggling with lung disease, and I still think of her often and miss the wonderful group of painters she had taken in. I think I probably grew more as a painter, and thought more about painting and my paintings, in the year I studied with her than I had in all the years before.
Spring is here ... time to paint! The apple blossoms and lilacs are almost done--have to paint them this week or wait until next year! So check back later in the week and see if I beat the clock.
In the meantime, I dug up these two 20-minute studies of Megan from last winter. There are problems with each (but of course) but, from this remove, I'm happy with color ineach and how it is applied, sometimes bleeding, sometimes holding a shape. And Megan, because of her lovely 19th-century (to me) looks has to be one of my favorite models; I can imagine Sargent painting her ... and maybe that thought influenced my color choices!
