Napa Workshop Was A Blast!!

Just back from a great weekend in Napa! Beautiful locations, great food and wine, and a really nice group of people. I couldn't ask for more. Well, I can -- a little less wind would have made it perfect -- but considering all that can go wrong with a plein air painting workshop, I have to say this was remarkably headache free. Thanks to my hosts Leslie and Alan, who took care of all the fine details for me, I was able to just show up and teach.

Here's the recap;

Etude Demo, 12 x 9 inches, oil on linen

On Friday, I arrived in Napa a few hours before the workshop started - I wanted to get myself in the environment and get into the groove, so to speak. So I got a cup of coffee and a sandwich, parked my car on the side of a quiet shady road in Carneros, and mentally prepared for my demo. I didn't know what my demo was going to be until I got to Etude Winery, but I needed to go over some key points so I wouldn't forget to cover them in my demo.

Shortly before 1pm, I arrived at Etude, and scoped out a good spot for my demo; I had to find an interesting view but more importantly, the spot needed to be in an open shade so everyone can watch the demo, protected from the sun. The sun wasn't harsh, but two or three hours of it would surely be uncomfortable.

I settled on the view of the winery structure. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, what with trees with bare branches and all, but I figured, what the hell, let's get out of the comfort zone and see what happens. If I fail spectacularly (a distinct possibility), it'll at least be entertaining.

I'm happy to say I managed to pull off a decent demo. Better than expected, actually. I think the pressure helped me to make decisions carefully and logically. What a relief!

The hard part of the workshop was done! I bought a couple of bottles of Pinots from the winery, and we gathered around the nice garden patio and had tastings while getting to know one another. I already knew most of the students from previous classes and many knew each other too, so it was a very nice and relaxed group. Good wine, good conversation. The workshop was off to a great start.

Later that evening, we gathered at Uva for our banquet dinner. I love including a big dinner party in my workshops. It's just so much fun and adds to the experience. I mean you gotta eat anyway, right? And you're in a special place like Napa. It's a no brainer. Uva is a great little Italian restaurant with live jazz. Kinda reminds me of the restaurant in the movie Big Night. We had a big table in a private section of the restaurant all to ourselves. Wine flowed, food was delicious, and everyone had a wonderful time.

Mondavi Under Heavy Clouds, 9 x 12 inches, oil on linen

Day 2. We gathered at Robert Mondavi Winery and got right to work. The sun teased us all morning but we had some really nice clouds to work with. I think painting the vines proved to be troublesome to everyone, and it took a while to get loosened up but eventually each found his groove. Most of us were in the vineyards which were off-limits to tourists, but Elaine, Susan, and Alan set up near the tour path, and got mobbed by Chinese tourists. Instantly, E,S, and A became tourist attractions. Elaine was in her environment (her background includes being a flight attendant, and psychotherapy. Imagine that!) , however, and worked the crowd like Pied Piper. It was amazing and hilarious!!

In the afternoon, we continue to paint with no more unexpected mobs, but we had a few sprinkles. Mother Nature managed to hold off until we started our critique, at which point it started pouring. Fortunately, we were in a covered area. Talk about good timing~ Despite the fact that the vines were difficult to paint, I think everyone did really well.

Later, I went back to Alan and Leslie's place on the other side of the hill, opened a Stephen Ross Pinot to unwind. Leslie made this great lasagna for dinner which made a perfect ending to another great painting day in Napa.

Diamond Oaks Demo, 9 x 12 inches, oil on linen

Day 3. The weather forcast said we'd have a lot of rain through the night, but should be clear by morning. And to our surprise, they were right! When I awoke in the morning and stepped outside, it was nothing short of glorious. The clouds were magnificent, and the air crisp. I couldn't wait to get started!

Today's location, Diamond Oaks Winery, boasts spectacular panoramic views of Napa valley. The wind was icy but we were able to set up sheltered by the building, and still get great views of the valley below. As I didn't want to take away too much of the painting time, I did a short (1 hour) demo, more or less specifically on atmospheric perspective, which was very prominent in our vista.

We painted all day, with a break in the middle for lunch. The day just flew by! By the end of the day everyone was tired but we had a very constructive group critique. As with my Donner Summit workshop last fall, I wanted everyone to improve not only their painting skills, but critiquing skills as well. After all, if you can't critique your own work effectively, you can't know what to do to improve a painting, right? I think everyone did great. Today's paintings were executed with much more confidence, and it showed in the work. I was happy about that.

So comes to close another beautiful weekend in Napa. I think I'm getting better at this workshop thing, which is a good thing because I really do enjoy it.

Oh, another thing - my little demo booklet was very well received :-) I will make them available very soon. I have to figure out shipping costs and stuff, but it'll be soon. I promise.

Almost Spring

Almost Spring, 9 x 12 inches, oil on linen

My Napa landscape workshop is less than a week away and I have been busy working on content. Because I have a lot of repeat students, I like to offer something new each time. Sure, the location is different and so too, are the colors of the season, but I think just going to a new destination and painting isn't enough. And even if every instructor has his or her own unique style of teaching, when you come right down to it, what I am teaching isn't all that different from what the next guy is teaching. I mean let's face it. Foundations don't change!

So, I don't know what other instructors do, but I try to add a little something extra to my workshops. This time, I've created a full-color, 20 page wirebound booklet documenting the process of creating a painting (the image above) from start to finish. I've included photos of 16 or 17 intermediate steps, and explained as best as I could, the key points along the way.

The book is being printed right now and should arrive this week. I'm really excited about this new material, and if my past experience is any indication, it is going to be a really cool book with high quality printing. I used a 12MB camera and color corrected each and every shot, so I think this will be my best book yet.

If all goes well and the book looks as good as I think it will, it'll be a great addition to my workshop content. The last time I made a book like this, I only made it available to my workshop students but I got so many requests to purchase them, I think I might get more printed, and offer them for sale.

But before I make that promise, I need to check out the finished product and make sure it's worthy. If you're interested, stay tuned!