The Impressionist Still Life with John Ebersberger

On the way south I was fortunate to take John Ebersberger's Impressionist  workshop at Maryland Hall in Annapolis.

There where a number of still life table step up for which to choose from.  

The class started with John going over the color wheel with aquatinting us with primary and secondary colors. The first thing we did was to organize our palette using a couple of few of each blues, reds and yellows. 

John maintains that in order to be an impressionist painter you need a variety of colors; we did not use earth tones. At least not until the artist has more experience with color. Otherwise you end up with the "Brown Gravy School" of painting.

From the three primary color we moved on to the secondary colors Orange Purple and Green. John demonstrated that indeed you can make these colors by mixing two primary colors however they aren't pure enough for a full color palette. Once we mixed these colors together we began to make interesting color by mixing colors across from each other and then adding white.

Here are some of the primary colors mixed with  another.  One purple is pure and One Orange is Pure.

Ebersberger then did a demonstration of a still life setup explaining how to interpret the color you see. 

Starting with the color of the jug, John put down a sort of dull orange color and then began to relate the other colors to the orangish vase. Keeping the painting structurally simple is key. By isolating the particular color and comparing it to all other colors keeps the color note legible. Start with a brilliant color and end with the color. 

John pointed out adjusting some colors by mixing across the color wheel brings specific color notes to the painting.

We then started studying our own still life setup. Under John's instruction I gained a new understanding of keeping color notes more legible.
I'm not sure I am willing to abandon all more free falling color expressions, however I am certainly going to be less cavalier with my color choice. 

I find it a rewarding experience taking time out to study with a knowledgable teacher; and it's always fun to be in a class meetingt new people.