Plein Air Painting Workshop at the Booth Museum in Cartersville Georgia

Last week I attended a Plein Air Workshop at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, GA. The actual workshop was held at the Booth Art Academy which is about a block from the Museum. The workshop featured three well known artists: Kathie Odom, Lori Putnam, and Dawn Whitelaw. When we signed up for the workshop, we had to select one of the artists to be our primary artist/instructor. I chose Kathie Odom since I had been in her mentorship group for three sessions last January and already knew that I related well to her. However, although I spent most of my time with Kathie, the workshop was designed so that we had sessions with the other two artists as well. A 3-for-1 deal.

It started on Thursday evening with each instructor introducing herself and telling about her art journey. We also received our schedules and information about the activities for the rest of the workshop. There were free samples of Gamsol and Galkyd Light - plus a gift bag with lots of Booth Museum and Cartersville Chamber of Commerce goodies. After about two hours that evening, Day 1 was complete.

Since my Mother lives in Rome, GA (about a 45-minute drive from Cartersville), I stayed with her and drove back and forth to the workshop each day.  I spent a lot of time in the car. I enjoy that, though. I listen to audiobooks, and it's a quiet time alone. The minus was that I didn't spend any time with the other class participants outside of class. Some of them got together at the hotel in the evenings for dinner, drinks and talking. I got to spend extra time with my mother, though. So it all evened out, and I was thankful that I could spend my days painting and learning with other artists - and my evenings with my mother and some siblings and other relatives, too.

Friday morning we met at Euharlee Covered Bridge in Euharlee, Georgia - a little community about 15 minutes from Cartersville. A truly beautiful little place with a covered bridge that is quaint and reminiscent of earlier times in America.

The three artist/instructors set up their easels at various locations near the bridge, selected their subjects and then demonstrated how they paint, talked about their process, and completed their paintings.  The workshop participants were free to watch one, two, or all three of them. I chose to roam from one to another, and that ended up being a great choice. I learned from each one.

Lori Putnam set up facing away from the covered bridge. Her painting focus was the road with its pattern of cast shadows from the trees and buildings.

It was good to see how she blocked in her painting and then selected the colors for the road, trees, buildings.

Dawn Whitelaw set up facing the bridge. This was my favorite subject of the three. It just seems that if you're going to paint around a covered bridge, the covered bridge should be in the painting. LOL!  Dawn is such a knowledgeable and quiet artist. I learn just from watching her, and I loved her presentation at the workshop.

Then I watched Kathie Odom paint for awhile. She also turned away from the bridge and painted the back of a house with a small house (play house, maybe) in the background. There was a large pot in the yard between the two houses, and she wanted that to be the focal point. Kathie has so much personality and was constantly sharing ideas and techniques.

This is another view of the covered bridge. There is just something about covered bridges that I love. They ooze stories of long ago.

After we spent Friday morning viewing and interacting with the 3 artists/instructors as they painted, we returned to the Booth Art Academy after lunch.  There, they had two 90-minute sessions - one with each of our non-primary instructors. That means I spent 90 minutes with Dawn and another 90-minutes with Lori. I learned so much from both of them - the most important thing was the value of drawing a small thumbnail sketch before painting. It helps to ensure the painting is what you want it to be. Via the thumbnail sketch, the artist works out possible issues before commiting it to paint. Then day two was complete.

Saturday and Sunday were spent outdoors and at the academy with our primary instructor. So Saturday morning, Kathie and her students met at a dead-end road right outside of Cartersville where there was a field with some white cows and a red barn. We set up our easels along the road, Kathy demo'ed, and then we tried to follow suit at our own easels. Since it was a dead end road, there were only two cars that came by during the 3+ hours we were there, and those were two nearby residents who came to see why all those people were milling around the road and painting.

Here is a view from where I set up my easel. It was interesting that one person set up right in the line of sight of just about everyone. So the majority of the class had to try to peer around her in order to see the barn. Some people just have no common courtesy. That person then stood at her own easel painting whenever Kathie had us come watch her demo another aspect of the painting. It puzzles me why someone would pay for a workshop and then not take full advantage of trying to learn as much as possible from the instructor.

We had some shade the first 30-45 minutes, but then the sun got high enough in the sky that even with umbrellas and wide-brimmed hats, it was miserably hot. Shortly after 11:30, I had reached my heat limit. The heat was bouncing off that asphalt, and I was melting. So I packed up my stuff and decided to head off for lunch a few minutes early. As I was leaving, I saw several other people packing - and I think by the time I drove off, everyone was pretty much done for the day. The photo below is of me with my friend, Barbara, right before I left. You can see by the background what a beautiful site it was.

This is my painting of the red barn - totally unfinished - lots I want to change about this. Now that I'm home, I hope to finish it soon. It's WAY too dark right now.

We spent Saturday afternoon at the academy. Kathie gave us the presentation she had given the other two groups the afternoon before, and then we all worked on our barn paintings for the rest of the afternoon. Day three was complete.

Sunday morning, Kathie's group met again at the Euharlee Covered Bridge. Our instructions were to set up our easels wherever we wanted to paint, and Kathie would circulate and comment/critique/offer suggestions for everyone. Kathie sure kept her word - constantly moving among all the students. She's one of the most giving artists I know.  Below is my set-up with my painting on the easel. I chose basically the same view that Dawn had chosen on Friday. You will notice the sketch pad where I had done my thumbnail drawing before starting the painting. However, if you look at my painting, you will see that I got the upper lines of the road all wrong. My road ended up looking like there's a hill leading to the bridge rather than a gentle slope.  So, now that I'm home, I plan on re-painting the road to straighten that out. Again, I still have lots to do, but I like this painting so far.

Sunday afternoon, it was back to the Academy where Kathie guided us in making a "greens chart." We mixed colors to make about 20 different shades of green on a panel to keep in our studios or with our plein air materials. It's amazing how many shades of green you can get with just 3-5 different tubes of paint.

And before we left on Sunday afternoon, Kathie's husband, Buddy, took a photo of our group, and then Day 4 was complete. The workshop went past so fast. 

I didn't finish a single painting during the workshop. However, that hasn't bothered me one bit. I feel that I have two paintings close to being finished, and I learned a lot that will help me be a better artist - and, most of all, will help me take my art in the direction I want it to go - looser and more "painterly."