Thursday and Friday was the first of what will become a regular feature of the spring, summer and fall, watercolor paint-outs, and it was a fabulous two days. A great group of hard working painters, nice locations, super weather and it I don’t say so myself wonderful lessons.
“Lubber Run 10 am just a little but chilly”
The first day we painted at Lubber Run Park and we painted the rocks, stream and trees in early spring. The lesson was to divide the paper into four sections and to spend about 20 to 30 minutes capturing the essence of the scene focusing only on small sections of the landscape. Light was the main focus and to simplify was the mantra. I demonstrated my approach and then the group went to work and I walked around talking to each artist about their individual successes.
The second day we spend a glorious sparkly day in Old Town Alexandria at Founder’s Park. 
Again we divided the paper into sections but the lesson was different. I asked the students to think of themselves as a camera with a wide angle to macro lens and to paint each section with a different focus. They were to keep the same general subject but were to go from a panorama view to a tighter normal view to a really close up macro view. What a nice job the class did. 
Well enjoy the photos and illustrations and I hope to see you in May for the next paint-outs they will be on the weekends of May 4th and 5th a Friday and Saturday, followed by May 25 and 26 also a Friday and Saturday.