Friday, November 18 2011, 5:30 to fireworks (9:30pm)

A celebration of drawing in conjunction with Okotoks Christmas Light-Up family festival. 

Great Artists! Doug Swinton, Michelle Grant, Shauna Krush, Noel Dyer, Mike McGann and Erica Neumann and more...

I was recently invited to do a small class for the Bragg creek artisans. We had had nice weather all week until we decided to have the paint out. It went from 22degrees all week to about 9 the evening of the paint out. All braved the cold and painted a small Moose mountain scene. I'm happy to report there were no casualties.

We had some keeners take notes and here is what they got from the workshop...

I'm not sure why I keep forgetting about it but Waterton is such a spectacular area. Thanks to Brent Laycock for reminding me of this little oasis.

This fall's outdoor class was full (as usual) and Mother Nature was on our side. As most of you know, Waterton is windy. In fact it's the second windiest place in Canada. Gaspe peninsula in Quebec holds that honor.

We were in Livingston Montana at a Clyde Aspevig show when a young guy approached me and asked if I was Aspevig the artist. This was an honour. Someone thought I was that good? HaHa.

The young guy and his band were playing in the bar next door to the gallery later that evening. I asked if we could paint them. "Awesome!"... Except that the bar was so full of people there was no room for us to paint. I noticed the big bay windows on the side street. We opened the curtains and painted out on the street. The orange sodium lights made for some interesting colours! The bar was The Mint Bar and Theatre - a taste of history in every glass. Cheers.

1. FOCAL POINT: Choose one! The hardest part about painting is the vast buffet of visual stimuli Mother Nature puts out before you. Whether you are outdoors, painting a still life or using a photo you need to simplify thing so you don’t get over whelmed. If you are getting confused then most certainly the viewer will be confused. If you start by saying “my painting is about the barn and the cows and the tree, oh and for sure the puffy cloud and the fence… too much information! Think is my painting going to be about the foreground, the middle ground or the background/sky. One of these needs to be dominate and be a dominant shape.