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Although I've taken a workshop with Ray Roberts before and enjoyed it thoroughly, the main reason I wanted to participate in this workshop was because I wanted to see how Ray moves from plein air studies into studio pieces.  

Half of the third day and the entire fourth day were dedicated to studio work. By the end of the second day I was really concerned because I had painted NOTHING I wanted to consider turning into a studio piece!
Even so, I still found Ray's information interesting and I learned from him.

 Ray discussed the various plein air pieces he had created during this workshop and decided to use one of the sketches he had created of the rocky part of Eaton Canyon looking towards the mountains.  He said he would be using the patterns and colors he had interpreted from painting outdoors.  

We were fortunate to have a beautiful monitor in the studio we used on day three.  Ray uses a monitor to display photos and manipulates them using Photoshop.  (It was suggested that we use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements or a similar program for our own work.)  Since I wanted it anyway, I purchased Photoshop Elements and was hoping to see how Ray used it in his work.   Ray says his monitor is nice, but nowhere near as big as the one we used in THIS studio.   This huge monitor was GREAT for all eighteen of us to see, however.

Ray talked about the things he liked about the photo and demonstrated a few ways to cut and move elements of the photo around.  He also talked about and demonstrated how to simplify an area which was too busy in the photo. He used the artistic watercolor element to simplify the overall look.  He said that cropping a scene can change the composition. 

He then began to sketch the scene he had decided upon and block in the dark shadow masses.   (See the photo on the left.)

Here are a few additional thoughts he expressed over the session:

• You are always drawing.
• Finesse a painting to its end by cutting back into things etc.
• Always consider the size of the shapes and the delicacy of the contours ... Everything should be unequal but natural... controlled chaos.
• He is more concerned about the movement in a painting than in a focal point.
• "It's not what I do, but what I avoid doing."
• Use sweeping gestures... Rhythm is when your eye isn't stopped by something static.
• Everything in shadow is darker than anything in light.
• Sometimes it's better to use a black and white photo than a color photo... Like Edgar Payne did.  That way you are working with values to create your composition rather than getting confused with color.
• Use overlapping shapes and avoid kissing edges.
• He uses several different photos to create a final studio piece.  
• Eventually you develop a level of taste when deciding what to leave in and what to leave out.  When in doubt, take it out.

Enchantment by Joseph Kleitsch

I've been working on this painting in the studio off and on for several weeks now... Looking at values and movement and paint texture/brushwork.   However, now that I've posted this, I see that I have more work to do on my on it...  The light doesn't seem to create the movement in my own like it does in Kleitsch's.   So... I will work on it some more. 

One thing I'll ask you though....   ..    If I ever finish it, which title do you prefer?

1. Enchanted Eaton
2. Eaton Enchantment
3. ????