We learned so much this Saturday from Marge Hall! Some of us learned how much better oil paints are for the subtle blending an artist needs for photorealistic flowers.

Marge wowed us by giving a quick and easy tutorial on how to make dewdrops. I think our work is going to be bedazzled with dewdrops until we get the novelty of it out of our systems!

Marge reminded us that if we are unsure of the value of an area in piece to make a viewfinder out of a piece of paper or card and compare the area with your subject or photograph you are painting. Marge says she paints flowers exclusively from photographs because her work takes a long time to paint and the flower would wilt before it was done.

She also saves time and blocks out the composition by projecting her subject onto the canvas and sketching the outline.

She recommends that we use acrylic paint to block out the background in the early stages because it dries quickly. The method of removing the white background early will help with keep your values under control.

It was a such a pleasure to meet and learn from such a respected and accomplished artist!