Ojai Workshop Expedition

One of my demos from the April 2009 Ojai Workshop:

'Krotona Library'.......oil on canvas panel..........7x9 inches (SOLD)

Greetings gentle blogaddict,
It was but a little over a month ago that I held my Ojai workshop, the gentle spring breeze coming off the Pacific ocean and cooling my diligent students from the cruel, unrelenting sun. Painter of light you say? Painter of deadly solar death rays I say! DEADLY SOLAR DEATH RAYS!! But we did manage to find some shade eventually at our many fine locations, the St Thomas Aquinas church, the Krotona Institute, Meditation Mount, Happy Valley's Beatrice Woods Center, and finally Mount Meher , real nice people at every turn. Visit them all with paint in hand, easel prone upon your sturdy back, a palette knife by your side to protect you from bears, visit them all! Tell them I sent you, they're all so friendly, and nice.

And the evenings, after our hearty toil, were spent languishing in the soft glow of the Ojai Pizzeria one night, the jazzy haze of the Movina Wine Bar the next. The topping of it all of course was the Deer Lodge, it's fantastical taxidermied Elk, Rams, Owls, and Jackalopes staring glassy eyed, down at our sumptuous repast of wild boar sausage and German beer. Oh, to capture nature in a landscape painting by day and see nature stuffed and mounted at night, there's nothing like it.


Here is a brief yet exciting video that Ben kindly and patiently created for me of my demo at Meditation Mount:



The completed demo....

'Meditation Mount'.......oil on canvas.......7x9 inches


A few pics of the workshop adventures......

Painting at Meditation Mount








Afternoon demo at St. Thomas Aquinas Church








A leisurely day in Happy Valley








Putting the final touches on Krotona Library demo









Sheldon diligently painting at Mount Meher











Luisa contemplating what to have for lunch







Overlooking Meditation Mount








The Ojai Painting Posse









Joel Anderson wrote a small article on me for the 'Ojai Valley and Ventura View' newspaper that was super cool and doubtlessly aided in rousing the locals to my intentions:



That concludes yet another fun-filled blogfix. I hope you've enjoyed the recounting of my tales of lust, greed and paint in Ojai as much as I have.

The whole experience was so amazing and vastly successful that I will be conducting another workshop there in September, 2009. Read on to see the workshop flyer for the second of my five-day upcoming workshop in Ojai!
For more info on this (and other) upcoming workshops, go to ‘Jennifer’s Upcoming Workshops’ on right sidebar. Ciao!




~ TIP-TOP TIDINGS! ~

And last but not least, I'm pleased to announce my painting 'Brand Boulevard' was graciously awarded Second Place in the LAPAPA's (Laguna Plein Air Painters Association) "Less is More" miniatures group show hosted by the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa! Thanks so much LPAPA, and everyone check out Randy's website kingofframes.com for awesome deals on ready made frames, and tell him hi from me!

'Brand Boulevard'.....oil on canvas panel.....4.5 x 6 inches (SOLD)