Fun with Trees

Went to a photo workshop with Neil and Susan Silverman last weekend in Red Bluff. It was fun and informative; the Silvermans are great photographers and teachers. So, being myself and being inspired =

Sweet Butterflies!

From the butterfly workshop, a small blue with a big dark one in the back that helps set it off. The organizer of this workshop arrived a little earlier and poured cups of water, taken from the nearby creek, onto a few spots of the gravely road. This attracted dozens of the little beauties out to where we could easily photograph them. (I hope I am not revealing too much!)

Butterfly Workshop

I went to a butterfly workshop yesterday, sponsored by Crown Camera. On Fri night we got the lowdown from photographer Dennis H. and on Saturday morn we met at a secret location waaaay out in the sticks for the shoot. There were hundreds of butterflies! When they were flitting around me I felt like I was in a fantasy! Yeah, really cool. Though I dragged along extra gear, I really only shot with the Canon 100 mm L Macro.

Lenn Goldmann Painting Workshop

I attended an awesome painting workshop this week, sponsored by Avenue 9 Gallery in Chico as a part of this year's paint-out event. The workshop was held at a beautiful estate in Cohasset, a tiny community in the mountains about 20 minutes from Chico. The instructor, Lenn Goldmann is a highly qualified successful artist and teacher with 40 years painting experience; as if that were not impressive enough, he brought an artist friend, Waif Mullins, who is an accomplished pastelist and oil painter, to help out. The class was primarily about design; Lenn lectured for 30 or 40 min, gave us some great handouts explaining how to create pathways in our paintings, etc. Then we chose a spot on the grounds and painted or drew for a couple of hours. Lenn and Waif came around to each of us, offering suggestions. After a lunch break, some of us chose another location for a second painting; soon we gathered together for a critique session. There were about 8 people in the workshop and everyone chimed in with ideas, it was a pretty relaxed, friendly group. I feel this workshop has re-energized me in regard to my painting work, am planning to do a lot of painting this weekend. On Sunday I'm going to a paint-out on a ranch in Orland, yippee! The photos are the paintings I did, tho the lamp one I re-worked @ home.