In my role as workshop co-chairman for the Baltimore Watercolor Society, I was in charge of organizing a 5-day figure painting workshop in September with Carla O'Connor, from Washington state.

     We had a beautiful model come and pose for us each morning, while the 25 artists furiously scratched away on their sketch pads in order to develop drawings for future paintings.  Carla led us through challenging exercises to get us to think "outside the box" and loosen up.

     The last two days were spent doing full paintings using watercolor and gouache, which is basically watercolor with finely ground chalk added to make it opaque.  The artists, who came from seven states, did some amazing paintings.  Below is the painting I did, showing a little scene from my son's wedding in May, with his new Japanese relatives dressed in kimonos.  OK, OK, that is me off to the right, with the crazy black hat and red rose...