I was the only student in my painting class this week.  The instructor had known this in advance.  He had planned what we would do and the studio was set up with two easels and the subject for our class.  He had displayed on a large screen a landscape photo he had taken for us to use for the lesson.  The idea was simple.  Block in the shaded areas first then move to the lights, and finish with details.  I never actually finished this painting.  I spent under three hours on it and still would like to lay darker shadows and lighten some of the clouds.  I will try to get back to it.

It was interesting to see how much difficulty I have processing what I see.  I had to start over the initial sketch on the canvas at least three times.  And the clouds were never accurately drawn, so when I later went in to paint, I got confused.

My instructor’s painting was much warmer and lively with sharper value contrasts.  I really liked it.  He answered my complaints about my own work with encouragement.  He warned about comparing work.  I am convinced I need to sketch daily to strengthen my drawing skills and paint regularly to improve and apply what I learn.  I left the class feeling hope inside…

I did some final touch-ups and took a photo in better lighting: