November 02, 2017

Rich Gallego's First Plein Air Workshop at PVR

When we first contacted Rich Gallego with the hope of persuading him to come teach a workshop here in 2018, he told us that the Texas Hill Country had long been on his list of "must paint" places to visit, and he was ready to sign up NOW! So here we are.

 

Rich arrived two days early and in the evening before his class I had an opportunity to follow his process as he laid some magic on a canvas that depicted a view that I see every day from the north window of my studio.

Rich gifted us this one, and another, that will hang in our classroom.
Thank you, Rich. You're very generous.

 

 

 

The first day of his workshop was windy and cold; always a plein air painter's challenge. But our students bundled up against the elements and watched Rich do a demo painting in the morning under cover and using the house to break the winds.

 

 

In the afternoon the students all set up their gear and had a go at painting the surroundings of our koi pond.

 

 

The second day was a better day with less wind, so everyone ventured down to the cattle pasture with quite different views, and after a demo from Rich, ...

 

 

... dove into creating images of the spreading oak trees that had a hillside to the west behind them.

 

The last day of the workshop started out a little cool but it finally matured into a beautiful day. Students scattered out across the very top part of the pasture among the cedars trees and in every direction they looked there was something different to paint.


After lunch, Rich started the afternoon with a demo on cloud painting, before everyone resumed working on their second piece for the day.

Throughout the three days, it didn't seem to matter if a student was a beginner or perhaps a little more advanced, because with Rich's teaching style of combining just the right amounts of challenge and encouragement for each student, we're pretty sure that everyone went home with something they could use as they travel further on the journey along their "art path".
Good job that, because Rich has already told us that he'd like to come back next fall, so if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe your email address at the top of the column on the right so you can be notified when we set the dates.

We should also tell you that Rich made a couple of interesting comments while he was here.
"I could stay here for two weeks and still not run out of things to paint."
...and...
"If I lived here, I would never get anything done but walk around looking at scenery." That tells us something about our ranch. I'm not sure what, but ... something.
It might explain what's behind the PVR motto that's at the bottom of the "About Us" page on our website

To see Rich's demo paintings and many of the students' paintings, click here.
To see all the paintings inspired by Painted Views Ranch, click here.

This was our last workshop scheduled for this year, but we're already booking others for 2018.
To get the details for next year's workshops, click here.

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