Toscana Americana

In her workshop Elizabeth will be focusing on watercolour en Plein Air.  The day will begin with a short discussion, demo and question period.  Throughout the day, each student will receive individual instruction.  Alternating between quick sketches in a journal, and larger paintings Elizabeth will demonstrate watercolour en Plein Air.  As an urban and a landscapes painter Elizabeth is at home painting in any environment.  The focus will be on capturing the rapidly changing light and contrasting values as the day progresses.  You will also learn how to interpret colour  using a limited palette. She will teach you how to edit what you see en Plein Air to create your cherished memory of Tuscany.  Using photography as a tool, you will learn how to plan your composition, and photograph your work for the web.  Elizabeth carries a small watercolour notebook, and her travel palette with her everywhere she goes.  You will learn how to work Plein Air painting into your daily life.  This workshop is suitable for the beginner or the experienced painter.

Meet Elizabeth G MacDonald...

She was born in Detroit, Michigan.  Her father was a great influence on her life.  He was born in Saskatchewan, moved with his parents to Australia when WW1 broke out.  They moved to the US at the conclusion of the war.  He was a very influential man.  As an adviser, for the Boy Scouts of America, he worked within the city of Detroit organizing troops.  He would take his family and the boys on long camping excursions into deeply wooded areas of Canada.  Elizabeth learned her love for art and nature from her father.  In his final years she cared for him in her home.  It was at this time that she left her career in accounting and entered University to pursue her BFA. 

 While attending University she fell in love with Italy and the Italian Renaissance.  She toured Florence and Rome with her Art History Professor Michael Farrell.  In Florence, the hotel was very close to the Arno.  In her free time she sketched Ponte Vecchio.  She mentions that while she had rolls of film to remind her of the trip, and a one hundred page photo essay, the memory of the time she spent at the river sketching will stay with her forever.  Plein air painting for her is a way of life.

 What she says about her art:

 When I paint en Plein Air I experience nature and the world in an intimate way not experienced by the casual observer. The experience exhilarates me. I am also a photographer.  When I capture nature and life through a camera lens I feel more like a voyeur, stealing a moment in time.  When I paint I become immersed in my surroundings with all my senses.  I am alert, and the scene becomes a part of my existence.  My heart yearns to interpret what is before me.  By painting en Plein Air I go beyond copying that stolen moment in a photograph in the studio.  I live the moment.  I live the painting.  The experience becomes a memory not soon forgotten.  When people see my work, I’d like them to experience a bit of what it was like to be there.  There is no greater joy for me then when I introduce others to painting en Plein Air.