Back to 37 minute studies



Loganberry Shed



Lanier Sails

 Back home again and I am picking up where I left things with my 37 minute studies. Before I left, I did a few that I did not have time to photograph. Admittedly, one of them, Loganberry Shed is a bit longer than 37 minutes, but no longer than an hour and a few minutes. The point of this exercise is to keep things simple and I think I went farther than I needed to on it. The other one is a plein air painting I did just before I left at Lake Lanier on a very gray and windy day. It truly is a 37 minute or less painting and I like the air in the painting....for me that is what plein air is about and I learned to move quickly on this and left a lot of things out. Carried on to a larger painting, there would be many improvements that could be made, but for now, this one is what I got out of the day. I have a few in my studio if I can get them photographed that are not great, but this exercise includes the dogs.

Workshop information

Shrimphouse at East Point
Plein Air Demo

Hi. The image above is one of my demos from my workshop in Apalachicola, FL in 2013. I am going back in 2014 and would love to have you come along. The dates are March 3 - 5 2014. The workshop is for any medium, but my focus is oil and pastel. I work with different levels of students, trying to work with each student at his or her level. We go to several different locations with demos at each. We have a great time of painting and sharing information. The price of the workshop is $335.00 for the 3 days. Please contact me to register or if you have questions. You can reach me at debduster@bellsouth.net or give me a call at 770-887-8877.

37 minute studies

I am in the process of simplifying my work and decided that setting a timer on myself is the best way to keep my focus on bigger shapes and fewer values in order to complete my idea in 37 minutes.  I chose 37 minutes because it is an odd number and I recently read a newsletter by Robert Genn talking about using 37 strokes to complete a painting.  For now, 37 minutes is my goal and it is really making a difference.  I have timed myself in the past to stop the noodling with a painting, but this time, I find that it is working better.  When I began I promised myself that I would do this every day, no matter what was going on.  I have been faithful for the most part, but as always life interferes and I have missed a few days.  I plan to post these paintings here, the good, the bad and the ugly, for you to view and make up your own mind about this project.  I started this a couple of weeks ago and have missed a few days in between.  I am counting sketches from sketch group as well as small oil or pastel studies on location or in the studio.  Ideally, it would be best to do them from life, but using photos is part of what I do.  I have challenged my class to do these every day and we are going to share and discuss them at least twice a month in class.  The image here is my first day, which I was thrilled with, it is a small oil 9x12 which is a large as I want to go in oil.