Lyn Asselta Workshop

Lyn Asselta Workshop, Making the Most of Photographic Reference Material

I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in a Lyn Asselta workshop with six other members of the First Coat Pastel Society.  The subject and emphasis of this was turning our reference photos into better paintings.  Here are the results.

I want to thank Lyn Asselta for her patience and unrelenting push to make us better in what we love to do.

Day 1 - the pre-workshop assignment was to do a field study of a scene and bring a photo in color and B&W of the view we painted.  Using that study and the photo our first in-class assignment was to produce another quick study of the same scene making any changes that seemed necessary.  Unfortunately, I later spilled coffee on both those paintings. Trust me, no great loss.

The rest of the day was devoted to creating a larger version of the study.

Day 1, Study 1 - Salt Marsh Reflections, 9x12

Day 2

For this study, I took the same photo and selected one portion that I thought provided a good design and potential.  We did a number of drawings, value reductions, and notans to come up with our "best" design.

As I was starting this painting, Lyn took away all my bright green pastels - how can I do a salt marsh in summer without green?!!!!

 Day 2, Study 2 - Salt Marsh Distance, 9x12

 Day 3

Using the same photo, we started with a small study of the design from Day 2 done entirely from memory.

Day 3, Study 3, Salt Marsh Memory, 6x6

Using another photo in color, Lyn gave us 2 minutes to study the photo and then 15 minutes to paint a small study,

Day 3, Study 4, Beach Dunes,  5x5

For the next four paintings, we were to choose a specific, limited palette, and paint the same image as Study 3 from memory.  Here are the results.

Day 3, Study 5, Split Complements - Blue, red-orange, and yellow-green

 Day 3, Study 6, Complements - mauve (reddish purple) and green

Day 3, Study 7, Monochrome - Blue - Dark values

Day 3, Study 8, Warm tones of limited palette

By the end of the day, I was dragging, but I believe that the last effort was the most successful of the small exercises.