Booth Art Academy Plein Air Workshop

Matt Smith demo's at Coopers Furnace in Cartersville

Most of the workshops I attend are pretty reasonably priced from around $250 to $450, depending on how many days and demand for the instructor. I've only been to one workshop that was somewhat disappointing, but all the others have been extremely beneficial. So when the Booth Art Academy pulled together a star-studded 5 day event with the best Plein Air painters in America right now, I couldn't pass it up, despite the pricey fees.

Matt Smith, Jill Carver, Len Chmiel, Skip Whitcomb, Kenn Backhaus, Ralph Oberg and Dan Young are considered master instructors and artists. It doesn't get any better than this if you're a Plein Air painter. But here's the funny thing ... I'm not a Plein Air painter :) Never painted outside! As usual, though, the techniques and theories of how to paint really apply to any genre, so I went in ready to soak up as much as I could.

Jill Carver

Jill was my first instructor and began her session with a ton of technical information. I never realized how much science and math principles can affect a painting. Getting the lights and darks right are everything in a painting, and it's a struggle for all of us Learning what light does in sun versus in shadow is another immensely important element in a painting.

It's so fascinating to me that our workshop began like this! This is how you know you're in a high level, advanced learning environment. My eyes must have been popping out of my head because she looked at me and laughingly asked, "Are you ready for a refund?" Oh no! I don't need a refund, I need a whole week with you :)

We're not talking about how to mix the color green. We're waaaaay past that. HEAVEN!

After a quick indoor demo:

We drove over to Red Top Mountain to paint. My very first time!!!

I chose this spot because I liked the leading line of the water, that curves around and out to a point. I edited out the bridge and focused on the exercise at hand - assessing value, lights and darks, and painting them in shades of gray.

Day 2 began with another demo by Jill at the Coopers Furnace location:

I was amazed at Jill's ability to find so much color in a scene that, to my eyes, had very little. She was also able to organize a chaotic assembly of limbs and grass and leaves into a gorgeous abstract study. She's not a blender. She puts a stroke of paint down and leaves it. That's a confident painter. Goals!!!

Then it was our turn. Here's my set up:

My classmates were very curious about my gear. Most of them all paint with the same gear, very expensive tripods and fancy palette boxes with glass. I didn't go that route. I wanted something a bit more traditional and classic, so I found these items and asked Scott to get them for me for my birthday. The pochade box is a Mosepi, which is handcrafted in upstate New York. The easel is a Richeson Italian easel that we ordered from Madison Art shop. This set up doesn't have a lot of the modern bells and whistles, but it's reasonably priced, classic, light and easy to move around.

My final painting was not one that I loved, but I learned a lot while painting it, and I plan to go back to it and work on it some more.

Matt Smith and Ralph Oberg

When I signed up for this workshop I asked for Jill and Matt. The surprise bonus for the last two days was that Ralph Oberg also joined us as an instructor! He is the nicest man and of course, incredibly talented.

Matt began by answering the groups questions about gear and paint. That's not the most interesting thing to me. I want to watch them paint! Look at those shadows ...

Ralph really knows how to handle his brushes! 

The weather was not cooperative on this day, so we used some of Matt's photographs and painted inside.

I got a lot of help from Ralph and Matt and learned a TON about color and shadows. It was one of my favorite painting days, and I walked out of there believing I can do this. That's amazing, isn't it?

And for our last day, we went back to Coopers Furnace, enjoyed another demo and then painted that afternoon.

Here's my final (or almost final) version of the painting I began with Matt and Ralph. I'm proud of it. I softened up a little, and it's not nearly as dark. I learned so much during this experience and cannot wait to apply what I've learned.