"Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits can become tedious." St. Thomas Aquinas

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Sharron Bell's Crystal Workshop

I had the privilege of attending a workshop on how to paint crystal this past Saturday and I finally put on the finishing touches yesterday and removed the masking.  When I heard that Sharron was going to teach a workshop on crystal I was intimidated at first, but knew I wanted to attempt a painting.  Sharron provided us with an exquisite photo for our drawing and I got creative from there.  After transferring the drawing onto my watercolor paper, I proceeded to paint in the darkest of darks to establish my values.  I used a permanent black acrylic ink than masked out the few white areas I wanted to retain.  The painting was done during the workshop and I finished it yesterday in my home studio.  The background was originally too busy so in order to focus all the attention on this beautiful crystal, I chose to darken the entire background except for one streak of purple which helps to ground the image and lead the eye to the focal point without being distracting.  Sharron's workshop was very interesting and it has inspired me to get creative with my own crystal still life for the future.  Thanks to everyone who made the day very special, who provided us with a catered lunch and for the Sandy Senior Center for allowing us to use the facilities on an off day. 

No comments: