Post workshop painting ideas and what I learned

What I found very refreshing about the Paul Jackson 5-day workshop is that he tailor's each workshop to not only what is inspiring him but what he believes the workshop participants will enjoy.  Sometimes a more experienced artist might not want to paint the same photo as the instructor and everyone else in the workshop but I found this time around it is important for the artist as well as the instructor to see if you are getting the results of his technique.  The second image we were asked to create our own "story" and change or add our own images which was really using our creative juices and testing our knowledge from the first painting.

I do love to paint glass and so this was exciting to see how the layers of color come through with a brilliance and  translucent glow of its surroundings.  I thought initially it was the mixing of the colors but learned right away that wasn't how he achieves the glow.

• Paul paints very differently from the start.  It was good to go back to basics to see how I can apply what he taught to my style. 
• The balance of water on the paper and in your brush is something I will have to work on to achieve the effects of laying down different colors. No one has ever mentioned that balance. 
• I had never heard that as long as your paints on the surface are 50% and below on the value scale you can apply washes without the paint moving.  
• He uses a specific paper stapled to a board which has been dampened and then taped.  I was amazed how that taped edge provides a place to test your intensity of the paint in your brush and to rid your brush of too much water.  Then you can just wipe it clean.  
• He has developed a special formula for the 19 paints he uses and DaVinci has changed their formula to make them less toxic, nongranulating, with high tinting strength, lightfast and vibrant!.  I have several of his colors and they each have qualities that work with one another.

I will be working on the two paintings started in the workshop and will try to add photos of my progress.   I have attached the two images which we were working from