Whitaker Workshop #10

Day 3 began with a continuation of the demonstration painting. I found that watching these demonstrations and then painting afterward did a couple of things. First it gave me cues and clues that helped me to go further with my own work; second I had a sense of painting alongside a true master, which was a real privilege.

Today the painting became much more coherent and whole. The painting day began again with scraping of the painting to remove ridges and imperfections of strokes. Incidentally, by using Maroger medium, the paint is dry to touch by the day after. Some artists in the workshop used Graham walnut-alkyd medium, which also dries quickly. I brought along my personal stash of Studio Products two-part Maroger. Bill mixes his medium into his main colors--white, gray, flesh, asphaltum, transparent red oxide, and raw umber. I mixed mine only into the white.

During the demonstration and the painting day, he continued to repeat:

• Use a light touch.
• Violate your edges.
• Go slowly.
• Correct often.
• Always look for ways to improve the work.
• The only work that counts is your very very best.

And of course there were a lot of others.

In the first photo above, you can see Bill's painting as it stood at the end of today's demonstration.