A great workshop with Catherine Kehoe

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend a week in a the beautiful Winslow Art Center Studio on Bainbridge Island, Washington studying with Catherine Kehoe (www.catherinekehoe.com) . She is someone who's work I have looked to for inspiration for some time. She is able to describe reality without detail. In doing so she captures the essence of a scene or a person by distilling what she sees and records. Consequently, her work is pure, beautiful and timeless. 

I have tried to adjust the way I paint a number of times and have found that the habits I have formed over the years are so powerful that even changing direction slightly is very difficult. You might say that that's OK, that's the way I paint, but I would like to feel that I can choose how I want to approach a subject and not have my habitual style dictate the outcome. 

Kehoe's workshop couldn't have been more perfectly designed for my interests. First she separated us from our familiar methods of drawing, then she had us view our subject as a design distilled to 2 values. Only then, on the fourth day were we allowed to paint  - with a limited palette, using only straight lines and flat shaped of color. On the fifth day she turned us loose with color and allowed a full pallet. 

When we arrived there was a crowded still life along one wall of the studio

We selected a composition from the jumble

And we spent hours developing a drawing using relational lines, always drawn with a straight edge. After completing the drawing we broke the drawing down into 5 values and transferred the drawing onto another surface (which is why this drawing appears to be done in ink, I used a pen to transfer the image)

We then worked with sheets of paper painted with 5 values of acrylic that had been cut into random geometric shapes. We glued them down in layers to create the image strictly in value and in flat, straight edged shapes

Another drawing done Kehoe style

This time we transferred the drawing to another surface and used paint in 2 values to describe the design of light and dark in the composition 

And the resulting painting

Another drawing, looking only at major shapes defined by value changes

The 2 value study  

The painting that grew out of the 2 studies.

I found the numerous deliberate steps really effective in separating me from my customary habits of thought and action. Catherine Kehoe proved to be a great teacher as well as a great painter and just the right person at the right time for me. In the last couple of weeks I have been experimenting in my own studio with the information I brought home from Bainbridge Island and am finding exciting new paths, which I look forward to sharing with you later!