Susan Sarbach is a California plein-air painter known for her colorful landscapes. She runs a well known art school outside of Sacramento CA., and has recently contracted with Dreamwork Productions to train their animators on color and form. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a week -long workshop which she was offering in Cary, North Carolina in October.
The course included lecture and demonstrations, as well as lots of opportunity to practice what we were learning.
Susan paints every painting in four steps. ( See the example below)
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| Scene being painted |
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| Step 1 block in shapes with relative value tones |
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| Stage 2 Blend shapes, adjust values, and temperatures |
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| Stage 3 Add highlights |
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| Final painting with finsihing details |
It was a lot harder than Susan made it look. But she is an excellent teach and by the fifth day, everyone was making dramatic strides in using her techniques. Here are three of the other students’ practice pieces..
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| Student 1 |
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| Student 2 |
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| Student 3 |
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Below is one of my practice pieces… Wadda ya think?
