Doug Braithwaite Art: Wet Paint in Longmont Colorado!

Doug and I headed out Tuesday morning for the first half of our driving leg to Longmont Colorado. We stopped in Grand Junction for the evening and survived the 97 degree weather.

We arrived Wednesday around 4 welcomed by our wonderful host, Gail Denton. She was enjoying her lovely front porch as we pulled in. We got settled in and then she taxied us around Longmont to show us some great ideas for painting places. Bathrooms. Check. Pavilion in case of rain. Check. Plenty of parking. Check. Wow, what a time saver for us! And here’s the view right across the street:

Doug and Gail checking out the painting possibilities . . .

We had a relaxing evening with Gail and her husband, Dan, who fixed a great dinner and we thoroughly enjoyed some home-made cheese which Gail makes in all her spare time! Wow! This woman is ambitious! We all checked our weather apps anticipating where we should paint the next morning. Although the weather showed rain, Dan and Gail nod their heads with a shrug, “eh, we don’t take a five-day forecast very seriously!” And they were right! Couldn’t have asked for better weather today. 73 degrees and a little breeze.

All the students met here at Gail’s at 0800! We made introductions, handed out directions to our destination, and away we went. We were about 7 cars back and Mario (Gail) was in the lead! Of course, we got caught by a light and away they went. Doug said “where are we going?” “Uh, well, funny thing, I handed out all the directions. Oops. Google it . . . I’m thinking! Golden Pond . . . turn here. Eh, nope. Wrong side of the pond. Thankfully a couple of students followed us and re-directed us back to the right place!

What a great place to paint! Slight breeze and 70 degrees. Perfection! A family or birds had built a nest up inside the rafters of the pavilion we were using and were more than a little vocal about the inconvenience of our being there invading their space. Hoping no one got “splatted” on sitting below their next!

This bird is a little annoyed at us invading their space!

Doug starts out with sharing his pallet. Pthalo Green here, Lizerin Crimson there. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was talking about a favorite rock band. Those ARE great names, aren’t they?

Checking out the set up . . . got it!

We talked “value study” and all shades of purple. We talked thin paint, thick paint, color matching, rhythm and notes. Doug does an amazing job of helping everyone understand the logic behind shapes and the darks and lights. We talked soft edges, hard edges and more thick and thin paint. So here’s how Doug first blocks in the value study in all shades of purple and then removing paint with a q-tip or paper towel.

Now color. Thin is dark, thick is light? Oh man, I can’t remember! The light peeks out from behind a cloud only for a minute. Just long enough to change the color matching. Hmm, do we stay with the “prior” color or go with the new? You decide!