Two urns and some sunflowers
Posted: September 25, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized 13 CommentsI’m still scanning the last few pages of my almost completed Hahnemuhle sketchbook. Here are a few from my recent workshop at Hudson River Valley Art Workshops. You don’t have to go very far to find subjects on the workshop grounds of the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn. The gardens and studio buildings are beautiful and there are plenty of small subjects that you can compile to make a page of vignettes. In fact, my first demo was of the rusty urn just outside our studio.
It turns out that I am not the only one who found the urn appealing. A few days ago I received an email with the subject heading “The dreaded urn”. Sue, one of my workshop participants, sent me a scan of a very beautiful half-sheet painting of the very same urn, painted by Skip Laurence (one of my teachers) that she found in his book “Painting Light and Shadow in Watercolor”. I haven’t opened the book in quite some time but I found the reproduction and scanned it here. It is in fact, the very same urn, painted more than two decades ago! Thanks for this, Sue!
What kind of scanner do you use?
HI Sheila,
For over a decade I have been using the same scanner. It’s an Epson Perfection V600 Photo. I believe it is still available.
I occasionally update the drivers but the scanner is like a tank. It’s fantastic.
The colour is very accurate and usually all I have to do is adjust the whites in Photoshop.
Shari
Wow! What a terrific story. And a painter I hadn’t heard of.
He’s an amazing painter and a great teacher too.
Love the urns–I’ve been working on some on a trip to Lake Como–just sketches–but you’ve given me some great ideas to try with the colors used. Thank you. Your work is always inspiring.
Robyn, thank you so much! I hope you paint some urns too.
Love seeing your sketch of the urn and the flowers from the garden. I smiled to see that you posted a painting of the urn done by Skip. I never took a class with him but he taught when I went to the Springmaid Watermedia Workshops in Myrtle Beach many years ago.
Joan, the workshop I took with him was in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where he taught every summer. Very kind man and a wonderful painter!
Hauntingly beautiful. Really interesting the way the colour plays (danses?) on the white urn.
Chris, Skip is an amazing painter. His more recent works are abstract acrylics but I love everything he does. And his book is a gem. Glad you like him!
Love that you shared both paintings. Two different takes on the same object. Both are fabulous, but unique to the artist who painted it. That’s why I love taking in-person workshops (especially yours) you learn from all the participants different ways of looking at things!
Such fabulous paintings of the urn — beautiful in their own ways, and a true reflection of the artists behind them.
Very beautiful. Warm greetings from Montreal ❤️ 😊