Doug Dawson Workshop - Day 1

This week, I'm hosting a Doug Dawson workshop. I've had lots of great teachers over the years, and Doug is one of the very best. He's also a master artist. In a couple of weeks, he will be inducted into the Pastel Society of America's Hall of Fame at the annual PSA exhibition. For more on Doug, you can visit his web site: www.dougdawsonartist.com.

This is a mentoring workshop, which means that we're inside Doug's head for the week, working with him to see how he paints, all the way from choosing subject matter to researching a composition and beyond. On Monday, we visited several locations near Lubec, Maine, to look into painting possibilities. Along with taking photographs, we did a great deal of reference sketching to explore compositions. We'll go back to these locations later this week to paint. Here is a page from my sketchbook:

Later in the day, Doug went back to one of the locations (West Quoddy Head) to work up one of his earlier sketches into a painting. We were given the option to paint, too, but we instead chose to sit and watch him work. Doug, ever the teacher, kept up a continuous and fascinating narrative as he painted. It would have been a great opportunity for a video camera!

Here's Doug working on his pastel painting. He started off with using reds and oranges for the initial block-in, moving to real color later.

Four more days to come!