Workshops,Paint Outs, Chicken and Rice from Janet

Aucilla River
30x40 inches
oil on canvas




I spent the day printing out materials for my workshop in South Florida. The thing I love best about preparing to teach a workshop is the reminder I get every time, of homework and exercises I must to to improve my work. I do the same exercises my students do and I refresh that each time I prepare to teach a workshop. My students think I am doing this for them and I am, but really, it helps me the most because study and improvement are so important. I don't teach like most workshop instructors. Most of them that I know do demos and talk about their process all morning. Then after lunch the students paint and the instructor walks around looking at their work, making a few suggestions. For me, that is not particularly helpful.

My workhops revolve aound a particular theme, often having to do with the "big three" of painting, Composition, Values and Color, with color being the last in importance. I believe in a hands on approach to teaching. I do very few demos, preferring to paint while the students work at their own paintings, stopping occasionally to make points about the painting as I go. I design a series of exercises for my students to complete, which go with the theme of the workshop. We work on these exercises all morning together, discussing them as we go. Each student receives a notebook with all of the exercises and related materials to the workshop. They get to take it home and keep working on the workshop exercises at their own pace and leisure.

During our lunch break we talk about various aspects of painting and marketing for artists. I usually ask them a series of questions about what motivates them as painters, requiring that they think about process. After lunch, we use the knowledge we have gained to paint together on larger format paintings, hopefully completing at least one painting each afternoon.


It is an intense day with a lot of work for all of us but I believe it is much more beneficial than just watching someone paint and then painting, trying to copy the instructor. Frankly, my method of teaching is much harder for me than doing it the way most instructors teach, but for me the goal is to provide the best tools possible at their pace not mine. I want them to go home with useful tools. I don't want carbon copies of my work and methods. My goal is to help them to paint in the best way possible for their own interests and style.

My workshops are designed to use inexpensive supplies and a minimal palette. I believe it is more important to have 6 or 8 high quality paints and 3 or 4 good brushes, than to have dozens of paints the student will never use again.

At days end, we go over the important points and evaluate our paintings with positive suggestions.


Painting workshops are all too often about the teacher and their work, showing off their skill and selling paintings rather than the needs of the students. To me, demos belong at a demonstration for groups. That is when the artist needs to show off their skill. Workshops should be about students, not the instructor. Why waste time showing off your painting skills? Students know you can paint or they would not have signed up to study with you.

It's one thing to paint and show students your process. To show step by step paintings quickly and then put them to work. That is helpful, but I'm talking about painters who use the workshop as an excuse to paint for hours and show off because they are unmotivated to teach. Having taught workshops for many years, I have heard all too many complaints about well known painters who charge huge prices for their workshops and teach very little useful information. Many of my students have told me about big league painters who spend all of their time selling paintings and talking up their own accolades, requiring huge supply lists with ridiculous numbers of paints, then teaching the student nothing about mixing those colors. The student comes home disappointed and frustrated, having nothing to show for it.

I know it is heresy to blow the whistle on other pros and I will be bombed with rotten tomatoes, but so be it.


If you could see the nightmarish mess in my studio you would laugh. I am praying that I don't get a call from a new visitor, wanting to come out. I don't mind if my regular patrons come. They are used to my quirky life. A new person would run screaming from the studio. I have the workshop notebooks all boxed up and ready, a huge relief. It took me all day yesterday to collate them. All of my frames arrived yesterday and so I must wire them all and wrap them for travel to my paint out. I shopped for this and that yesterday so the pile of stuff for the paint outs has the table groaning in submission. I'm going to be eating out and eating a lot of TV dinners for the next two months. I'll miss my cozy studio, but it is time for new adventures!!

I'm going to try to work on a couple of gouache paintings today. I have cleaned my oil palette and will have to leave my oils for a week or two. Just too busy to paint seriously.


I'll have plenty of time to paint on location for a week in March. That will be heavenly. The real reason I do the paint outs is because that is the only time I can be away from everyday responsibilities like cooking, laundry,errands and so forth. It is wonderful to pull into that parking lot and unpack my gear, rambling around looking for a likely spot to paint, knowing that I am not responsible for a thing but painting for 7 days or 10 days. No cooking, cleaning, just hanging around being a painter, laughing and joking with all of my landscape painting friends. I only see them at paint outs so it is like a hilarious reunion each year. We have known each other for years, so there is a comfortable feel in being together, working toward a common goal.

Sorry about rambling on for so long today.


Today's Recipe:

From Janet

Chicken and Yellow Rice

1 chicken boiled with bones removed
Reserve chicken broth
10 oz package of yellow rice
1 onion diced
2 stalks celery diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz sour cream
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Saute celery and onions in a bit of EVOO
Place chicken, vegetables, rice in a deep pan. Combine soups with chicken broth and sour cream. Pour over rice mix. Bake at 350 until rice is tender. Put shredded cheese on top and return to oven for 5 minutes.

I tried this recipe and it is really good. You can use white rice if you like. I like to add a bit of leaf thyme,pepper and parsley to the mixture.