Here are some photos from my second photography class.

I signed up for this photography class to learn how to take better photos of my artwork. I learned that and so much more. Now I fear I have fallen in love with photography also. Another medium to add to my list.
Some artist recommend that you stick with one medium and master it.
I see validity in that recommendation, especially when first learning your craft. I use the word craft, because I am referring to the technical side of the work. You must learn the craft before you can express your artist self. That being said, I firmly believe the longer you work, the more you expand your experiences and techniques and even your mediums, the more free you are to express yourself. I have found through my 30 plus years of art, that learning or trying a new medium expands and enhances all my work. I encourage all artist to step out of their comfort zone and try new mediums.

This has been a very busy week and I have been out of the studio more than in. Thursday I took a photography workshop and I am posting some of the assignment shots. It was a beautiful day to go out and shoot. We were in historic Mineola, Texas by the railroad depot.

I enjoyed it so much, I signed up for a more advanced workshop in two weeks. I am hoping that we will have the same kind of beautiful weather, but we may be shooting indoors.
One of the most helpful things I learned in the workshop was how to use the fill flash for back lite shots. I really hate using flash at all, but in this case it makes such a difference. I also learned my camera has a mode called manner/museum and is preset to take photos where flash and sound are not appropriate. Any of you photographers will see, I really needed this class and much more. I recommend a digital camera class to everyone who owns a digital camera.
I downloaded Picasa3 on my computer and I am finding it very easy to work with and it has made downloading from my camera very easy. I uploaded these pictures directly from my picasa to my blog saving a lot of steps.

I'll be at a sculpting workshop this next week and then the next Monday I will be giving a watermedia demo. I have been taking step by step photos for an example and I will have to have a few taken to different degrees of completion to show how I work. I will only have about two hours and I don't want to spend time allowing layers of paint to dry.

Early Sunrise
8x10 oil on linen
Price $160
Available to Purchase

This 8x10 painting was inspired by the photo I posted a few days ago on www.wilderartist.blogspot.com. It has been a while since I painted with oil. The luscious pinks, oranges, and yellow sunrises are a common site at my place. This overlooks our back pasture and you can barely see the pond beyond the hill. Frequently there is a mist rising off the pond and the bottom land. One of the reasons I love living here.