WIP- Commission Painting

I have been doing a bit of work on the commission painting.

The mountains are done, maybe.  The sky needs a bit of tweaking.

Today I worked on blocking  in the darks for the grass/shrub/tree areas and also worked some on the water areas.

I am leaving the 2 large trees to do last.

I was going to also block in the shadow areas on the large rock sticking up in the grassy/watery area; but I had a bit of an issue.

  My easel broke.  I have cursed this easel since we bought it.  It has always been unstable and wobbly which I pretty much fixed by adding some shims at the bottom.  A couple of weeks ago the bolt type screw in thingy that holds the top canvas holder in place stripped and so I have been using it by holding the canvas firmly at the top with one hand while trying to paint with the other.
This afternoon the same type of bolt screw thingy that holds the bottom canvas holder tight also stripped and it started sliding down toward the floor.  Luckily my knees were at the same height as the holder and stopped it as I grabbed the canvas.  I was not a happy person at this point.

Tomorrow I will try and find some bolts with the same type threads and if I can't find any I may just end up having a carpenter make me a cheap; but useful tripod type one here.

Anyway here is a photo of the painting up to this point.

Title:  Untitled at the moment
Medium:  Oil on Canvas
Size:  24 x 39.5 inches, (60 x 100 cms.)

Art Exhibition At The Casa De La Cultura

   This evening was the opening of the art exhibition for the art classes at the Casa de la Cultura.
 The teacher I go to has a class of "beginners" and a class of "advanced" that goes on Mondays and Wednesdays and another class of both on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  When you have finished the "beginners" class you then move on to the "advanced" class.
 In the "beginners" class you advance through a set lesson plan the teacher has, where you are taught the basics, for your last work of the semester you decide what you want to work on and in what medium, usually either pencil, pastel or oil.
 In the advanced class we begin by deciding on what medium, technique, and type of canvas we want to use.  We discuss it with the teacher and get his ideas and input about the whole process.  We then work on our own, he is always available to show us different things or to offer suggestions/tips/ideas and to let us know when we need to do something differently.  I think he is a good teacher; but I don't have many others to compare him with.  He is patient, knowledgeable and well liked by all.  I believe he took his art training at the Tec de Monterrey in Chihuahua.
   The other teacher also has 2 classes, mostly of children/pre-teens so there are always a fair amount of paintings on display.

Our teacher decided that we should have our semester end mini fiesta today also.  These mini fiestas and exhibitions are the only times during the year that all of his classes get together in a group.  Everyone brings snacks, we set it all out on the tables and dig in.  It is a mixed group of people, some around my age, some teens and some as young as 8 yrs. old.
A good ending or almost ending of this semester.  The "advanced" classes are to go for the next 3 days, for 3 hrs. a day to finish off the paintings that didn't get done.  I have finished all of mine; but am starting on a new one, so will go and get it prepped and ready to go for the next semester which starts February 4 th.

Here are some photos of the exhibition.  Some of the subjects of the paintings might look familiar from other times I have posted photos of other exhibitions.  The members of the "beginners" class often choose a photo from the teachers stock pile, if they don't have something of their own that they really want to do.

Our classroom before the eating began.

Finished Pastel Painting

I added a few finishing touches to this and have decided that I am going to leave it alone.  I keep wanting to fix this and fix that and if I don't stop myself I end up ruining things completely.  The problem is that I have this picture of how I want it to look in my mind and that image never quite comes out of my fingers, so I am never quite happy with the end result.  Oh well, keep practicing I guess.

 Thank you very much Todd M. for allowing me to use your photo for the reference for this.  He took a photo of a window in a home in the countryside near San Miguel de Allende where he lives.

This is soft chalk pastel on Canson Mi Tientes pastel paper.  Approx. size is 11 x 14 inches or 28 x 35 cms..
Title:  En El Campo, (in the countryside).