This week in my Vancouver intermediate acrylics class, we did an interesting exercise. We all had photos that we had taken of a still life set up from the previous week. Everyone was given a bit of time to under-paint their canvas and draw in the basic composition. Then we had one hour to paint as much as we could. At the end of the hour we lined up all the paintings and had a look.

Most people really enjoyed the exercise, a few chose not to do it and a couple found it so stressful that they dropped out. Hopefully they will all forgive me for putting them through it. The benefits of this exercise is that you have to very quickly decide what really matters in your painting and what you can leave out. No time to get bogged down with small details.

I found it exhilarating- kind of like white water rafting. Here is my effort- 20 x 24" acrylic. I like it and plan to spend a little time bringing it to completion, while trying not to lose the freshness.