A Visit from the Guerrilla Painter

Last week I got a call from Carl Judson, AKA Guerrilla Painter; the traveling plein air guru and THE Judson behind the famous Judson’s Art Outfitters - supply/lifestyle catalog for all things PLEIN AIR.
If you click on the link above for Carl Judson, then click Track my Tour - you can see where he has been in his travels - visiting artists like: Shaun Horne, Carl Ortman, Peggy Immel, - me - to name a few.

While I had known about Carl by reputation, we met in person when I painted at the Sedona Plein Air Festival - and hoped that some time in his travels he would come through Alamosa.
Last Thursday we had coffee and a wonderful visit - about all kinds of stuff,  our mutual interest in San Francisco, where I am from and where he also has history,  and we talked about painting - of course,  the nitty gritty of how and why,
and of course - where?
I got to see the inside of his famous Guerrilla Paint Mobile - and could kick my self for not taking photos - BUT Carl is coming back to town  - this summer  - to spend time with the Plein Air Painting Class- and anyone else who is interested. He talks to groups, of any size - about the Plein Air Life, and his personal take on 30 years of plein air painting. He will also come with books, catalogs and all kinds of wonderful Plein Air Supplies.
I am looking forward to it and that date will be posted on this site.

Volleyball Painting

So - what do Volleyball and Oil Painting have to do with each other?
Yeah - -  I don't know either.

I was asked to put together a one-time painting class for the Adams State University Volleyball team.
 Do we need a reason?
We do it because it is fun. These girls were way FUN.
Fresh from practice and weightlifting, the team blew in and immediately engaged with enthusiasm - ah, youth. . .
For me the hardest part was figuring out WHAT to prepare for a one time, disinterested group (not to be confused with -uninterested) and how much real learning should be my goal for them.
Yes! I believe learning can be fun.
In the end, I chose to focus on Design (my favorite thing),
Value, Color and Brushwork- bringing those things together in one painting with no reference or set-up to paint from.
Below are my 4 basic points and what I hoped they would take away - besides their painting.
Design: placement of imagery on the canvas
Value: the light and dark of imagery, that's a little bit of Light Logic
Color:  just WARM and COOL - no color wheel or color theory
Brushwork: using the EDGE of the Brush, and using the FLAT of the brush

This might be reminiscent of a one-time event that involves wine and some paint, where folks pay and walk out with the ubiquitious copy of some one else's painting
. . .  not that there's anything wrong with that. . . .
but as an educator my highest hope is that some real learning will take place - even if it is ONE thing, or ONE "ah ha" moment.
Well, I had an "ah ha" moment - I need to loosen up and get a few more athletes into my painting classes.
Bring on the football team. - Go Grizzlies!