'Sunshine Makes Me Happy' 12x16 pastel ©Karen Margulis available $195 I'm not sure I remember what the original intent of the demo painting was. It happens like that sometimes. A demo goes through changes as it is led by the questions and discussions of the students. Demos are not always meant to be finished and framable. They are meant to demonstrate the concepts that are being taught. I came home from a workshop in June with a couple of unfinished demos. I decided to work on one of them today. Have a look at the unfinished demo painting below. The first thing I notice is the big boring empty sky! The horizon was low so usually this is a good opportunity for an interesting sky. The unfinished demo I decided to transform the painting into a field of sunflowers. The original bright yellow green grass reminded me of sunflowers in the distance. I needed to add interest to the sky first. I brushed off some pastel in the spots where I wanted some clouds. This made it easier to add the light values of the puffy white clouds. Adding clouds to make a more interesting sky To transform the field I sprayed some workable fixative and refined the trees. Since I was now painting a scene in Provence I transformed the distant trees into the tall thin Cypress trees found in the area. I added a few marks to suggest some farm buildings and then it was time for the sunflowers! I used different types and sizes of marks to indicate the flowers in the distance and the foreground flowers. Can you see what type of marks I made? I wanted just s suggestion of flowers without getting too detailed and bust. So I stopped. It was a fun transformation! WORKSHOP OPENING!! Due to a cancellation I now have an opening in my upcoming plein air workshop in Lexington Kentucky. It is short notice but I'd love for someone to join us! The dates of the workshop are August 23-25 from 9-4. The cost is $300. Send me an email if you are interested! [email protected]