Instructor Intervention.

I'm currently taking two painting classes at Watts Atelier of the Arts in Encinitas, California. While I've painted over the years, I've never had any formal instruction until now.

The flow of the class is that I begin painting, and when I reach a place where I need help, the instructor comes over and works on top of my painting. I then proceed to finish the painting. I really wish I had intermediate photos of the steps, because it's interesting to see the process -- the before and after phases -- the impact of each person's hand and unique approach -- the subtle and nuanced changes. Unfortunately, I only have photos of the finished works.

My drawing (placement of features and shapes) has been pretty good for both paintings -- the instructors didn't have to change much there -- instead most of the work was done on the edges (where two values or colors meet), a few of the values (how light or dark something is), and the background (which for some reason I never address).

Below are my two paintings from the first week of class.

This portrait was painted from a live model, with help from my instructor, Meadow.

This burnt-umber self-portrait was painted from a photo, with help from my instructor, Lucas.