Bill Davidson: 0:00

I think it's very easy to if you have the passion and you keep it playful, you can really learn to paint, and you can learn to paint well, it's all fun. And I think if you keep it fun, you can create really great art. And I think that's the whole ticket to keep going also, and it's also that's when you take risk, when you're not so worried about am I going to fail? Is this embarrassing? You know that type of thing?

Laura Arango Baier: 0:30

Welcome to the BoldBrush show where we believe that fortune favors a bold rush. My name is Laura ankle Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast. We are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques and all sorts of business tips specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all stages of their careers, as well as others who are in careers tied to the art world, in order to hear their device and insights. For today's episode, we sat down with Bill Davidson, a former lawyer turned passionate plein air artist with a love for painting and teaching, he emphasizes the importance of playfulness and a growth mindset in learning art and pursuing it either as a hobby or a career. He tells us about his unique approach to painting that focuses on mastering values and shapes before introducing color, using techniques like creating great petals and designing compositions in black and white. Bill highlights the significance of plein air painting, not just as an artistic practice, but as a transformative social experience that builds friendships and provides continuous learning opportunities. His teaching philosophy centers on breaking down artistic challenges, avoiding harsh self criticism, and maintaining curiosity and passion throughout the creative process. He advises artists to take risks, attend workshops and not be afraid of making mistakes, believing that style develops naturally over time through consistent practice and exploration. Finally, Bill offers resources like his newsletter, Bill's tip jar, his upcoming workshops and his videos to help artists improve their skills and enjoy their artistic journey. Welcome bill to the BoldBrush show. How are you today?

Bill Davidson: 2:06

I'm just super Thank you for having me. Laura, yeah, thanks for

Laura Arango Baier: 2:09

being here. And I'm so excited to have you, of course, because your work is so wonderful to look at. It is just the texture, the movement. It really reminds me of a lot of old master paintings and a lot of the touches that you put, but then also the beautiful colors and the water really modernize it a bit, because I can imagine that the Old Masters would have loved to have those gorgeous blues that you use in all of the water in your paintings. So I'm excited to, you know, pick your brain about how you create your work, and to discuss more about your work. But of course, before we dive into all of those wonderful things, do you mind telling us a bit about who you are and what you do?

Bill Davidson: 2:52

Yeah, so thank you very much. And so, just so I cover this right up front. I just finished teaching with a great group of really other artists at the pace convention on the main stage, and it was an honor to be with them. And so I've been spending the past six months going over and over going, how in 60 minutes can I give you enough to make you very much better in a much faster way, the fastest way that I could think of. So your timing on this is just perfect, Laura, because the research is done and the demo and everything was delivered, so I have a ton of notes from it. And so this is just the ideal scenario. So really, for you people that are late in the game or are coming to this and didn't really work an artist early on or changing careers, this is where I think I may be of some help. So first of all, don't feel bad I was the worst painter, and I will say this, that probably ever existed on the planet, so, but I had a lot of passion, and I think that's really all you're going to need. I think it's very easy to if you have the passion and you keep it playful, you can really learn to paint, and you can learn to paint well. So I go through those questions, and we'll talk a little bit about the business end of it, but mostly it's learning how to paint much better at how to do it in a faster way, because you're under a time constraint. So I like to throw in a little bit of humor and keep it going, because a lot of funny things happen to me coming up. So don't ever feel bad about yourself, your key is to really make it fun. And don't look at it as a challenge to your ego or anything, because I can tell you some of the funny things that happened to me as we go through this where I was, you know, it was so people would say it would be really embarrassing to them, but. It, as soon as you get used to not being embarrassed, you got to do really well, and you're going to have a great time at it. So that's one of the things I really wanted to cover. So I'm a, I call it a recovering lawyer. I was a lawyer for 25 years. I've been painting for 2025, years, and I went to my first workshop on crutches with the knee surgery, and I was sitting there and I was going, Wow, I could teach better than this person, because I have the skills for being a lawyer. All I have to do is learn to pay. Well, that was easier said than done, but it was absolutely I felt it was true. So I could, you know, and when I came through, the teaching was a little different. So I've kind of made my own system to help people like us that were not like at age 1819, and 20, and in the art schools and things of that type nature. So that's kind of how I approach it. I approach it from a very logical so I broke it all down, and I come up with my ways to make it a lot better. So, but you do need to keep it playful, and I'll give you a little bit of a hit here. There's a Harvard neuroscience professor named Dr Ellen Langer, and she's very good at talking about how you can make life enjoyable and stay in it. And one of the things I did was I extrapolated that to the painting world. So and it makes a big difference, because if i i probably teach close to 200 workshops over the past 20 years, 15 years. And so I'm always watching people, and I'm asking them, I'm always trying to play with my How can I teach them better, so they learn faster? So the interesting thing is, the more playful I make it with them, the more I get them where they don't freeze up and they're not a critique. I've even taken the word we don't have critiques anymore. We have feedbacks. So the idea is to make every painting a playful puzzle, and and you look at it and you go, Okay, if I do this, what happens? Does I make it better? If I do this, do I make it worse? So you look at each stroke, kind of like Sargent did, and that's what makes it fun. And you have to push it a little farther that you go. Okay, that works. What if I got a little bit farther into it and make another stroke? That may be too much. I always try to go 5% past what I think's good, so it's really then when you make it fun, you'll keep doing it. And so when I go around to workshops, and I get a lot of people that repeat, I'll come back to one, and I'll see this, and I'll go with, well, I haven't painted as much as I should have, because they get this fear, or they don't have their paints out in a place that's real convenient. These little tricks will and they're not tricks, they're just tips that will make all the difference in the world. Wow, so Did I cover enough there?

Laura Arango Baier: 8:01

Yeah, I You gave us so much material, truly, because I that is so important, the the playfulness, 100% I think the Yeah, yeah, it's important to have some seriousness, but not to the point where it breaks you, where you know, you have to be able to feel relaxed enough to explore and play like a child would, without having that hyper critical voice on the outside just not letting you do anything. And I think, yeah, it's, it's so great that you've decided to, you know, teach this tactic of making it fun, making it a game, because that's also, like you said, you know, it's been proven by neurologists. But also there's, it's easier to learn that way, right, where you're just working little by little, and just letting yourself enjoy things.

Bill Davidson: 8:57

And I think you hit on it, the neuroscience supports all this. So as as a recovering lawyer, I'm a big researcher, so I read neuroscience in the morning to figure out, how can you get better at something faster, and what are the best ways to do it? So we'll be using those. And I would suggest Dr Ellen Langer, she did a podcast without with Huberman, and it's about two hours long, but it's well worth watching. She's one of the lead neuroscientists at Harvard University. So anyway, we extrapolated that and put it in here, so that it's interesting to me, because so I came up with what I call my Superman, your superpowers, and so really, the here's what people do. If I'm in a workshop, I'll hear this, oh, I really can't do shapes. Well, oh, I'm not good at my values. You just have to reframe it, and it needs to come in the form of a question, where it goes, How do I get better at shapes? Keeps How do I get better values? That way you're not criticizing yourself and making yourself feel bad. And that's what stops people, because it puts them in a position of fear, and then the fear is what stops everybody from continuing to paint and to push themselves and to enjoy it. So there's actually, if you look at the neuroscience, you'll see that one of the things that there's there's this is how you learn the fastest. You try it, then you get feedback fairly fast so that you see what you did wrong. Then you retry it, and then you keep that process should repeat over and over again. And then there's another way, and it's called passive learning. So you just sit around and you look at your paintings, and you go to art shows, and you do this, and you go to museums, and you start figuring out what you like, those three methods of the way you learn the fastest. So like, I'll, I'll do a painting, and then if I do a painting yesterday in the morning with coffee, I'll load it up on procreate and play with the design and everything in the morning on my iPad before I go in and start painting, repainting the painting again, just just to play with it. So and I'll look around and look for other ideas. So it's like Picasso said, don't just borrow, steal. So I mean, I know that's kind of taking it out of the far away, but it's it, because the process is like this. If you ever Raymond Kinsler, and I love the guy, he was a fabulous artist, he would go, this is how the process. This is how you have to start the process. I will, this will be the greatest painting ever created of this type C, and he goes, you'll be an hour into it. You'll go, well, baby, this will be the greatest painting I ever painted of this type C. And then he's another hour in it, he goes, I hope I can save this damn thing. So that's kind of how the process kind of runs. So you need to take a lot of breaks and back up. You don't want to slide into that process, but that's mostly so if you take your breaks and you go in and you do it the way I do it, a different way for most people, because I felt like we need to learn values and shapes, and most of us were drawn into this for color, especially later in life. So and a great artist, Ned Mueller, told me one time, when I was first learning he goes, Bill, if you just did values for two years, you can jump way ahead and you and of course, I was in it for color. So I went, I can't do that. So what I've come up with a method where I work on my value in shape first, and I keep color away from it, and then I get to put my color all in it, and it works much faster. Watching people in workshops is way better for so if I was to say something, I would say first, it's your curiosity and your passion that's going to keep you going and make you better. But you do have one superpower. It may it may not be value, it may not be shapes or but so mine would have been color. I can see color fairly well, and that's my passion. That's why I got into it. People call values this different words. So words are slippery, so people go well, most people aren't good at drawing. Well, to me, I just turn that into values and shapes, and that's really a drawing that's more palatable for me to present it that way. So you pick your one that you're really good at, and you know, that's your superpower, and you spend 80% of your time just playing in that area, and then you find your others that like, for me, shapes are one of the hardest things in the world, and basically that's drawing. And so I'll work on that 15% of the time, but I usually work on that in the beginning. So anyway, it makes it way easier, because what happens is, I found that most people can't see color and value well. So light, light yellow looks lighter, dark blue looks darker. So what I do is I create my design in in a black and white, and I use chromatic black by gambling, because it's transparent. And matter of fact, all my paints are gambling. I say I'm a gambling man. It's because they're very consistent. The tubes don't crack and break, so I like them a lot. But anyway, as I'll create it with a mixture of titanium white and a microchromatic black, and I'll mix up three puddles, and I'll start by design, and I do this even in a plein air competition or when I'm outside, and that's how I lay out my design. And I'll use three values about there's a rule, if you know about the people that do the Disney Studios and those type people that, and it's probably more well known like there's a 70% rule, you. You want to be like 70% something major. And I found that to be very true. So I'll have a medium, a dark and a light value, and I'll make one of the values, what I call dominant. That way people don't get caught up in 70% so that's a design thing. So that's like this. The easiest way to remember it is this, if you have a great room, you're going to want a couch in there. If you don't have a couch, the great room's not going to look good. So I always go in with a 70% rule, or that my dominant value, then I have two values left, which is about 30% one of those values is more dominant than the other would also by about is dominant, so 70% or whatever that lines up by design the way I need it and gives me my big shapes. Now you may go, Well, this what? How does this dominant value thing apply in the smaller things? Well, it does. I learned that I kept watching great people. And if you watch really pros that have been painting their whole life, they just do shapes naturally, and they're very good at it, and they can see their color and their value. But I mean, I was watching people, and I couldn't do it either. So I learned that if I had a pile of rocks, the way to make it bigger or better, much better or clouds, was to put a dominant rock in there or a dominant cloud. Try it. I guarantee you it'll save that rock pile or save that section of clouds so it works on your big design also. And so all you have to do is lay it all out. I've done five videos for streamline, which is the largest, I think, video art, video people, and one of them called landscapes reinvented, and then, and then unlock the magic of plein air paintings. Another one. So those two, I really go into in depth. Landscapes reinvented. I really covered this in depth. I go, it's probably six hours. But anyway, I show you how to do it. But as I gotta say this, videos are great. But here's having just come back from pace and teaching workshops. I will say this, there's nothing better than live. The videos are great supplement. And sometimes I can sit there and I can watch a video and go, Well, I think I got it, but then I may go to that person's workshop and go, whoa. I thought I kind of had it, but this is so much more, so much better. So don't just sit in your studio and watch videos. They're great, and they're great. They give you the repetition you need. So but I think the workshops and the live things are great for you. But let me go back to this part. So when I start laying out that design, I know that I've got a dominant value shape, and I'm not using color at all yet, because people tend, most of us could. Well, it's neuroscience. You can only think of one thing at a time. So if I've got values and shapes going on, and then I have to throw color in there, that's one more ball. And that would have to make me a professional juggler. You can't do most people can't do it. So, and in the old art schools, you couldn't touch color for a couple of years. So there's some, there's some actually science that backs this up. So anyway, but that's how I deal with it, and I find it much easier. People learn much faster. And then what I figured out after that is, let's say you don't like to draw, you don't like to do just black and white. It only takes 1520 minutes to set this up, and you can play with it, and you can redesign it and shift it, and you're going to get a better design if you look at like, two or three or four things. And then before you've actually gone into your color, if you want to redesign it, you don't have all that color on there and have to scrape it off and try to go back to point zero. So having a some type of plan is very important, and it's actually becomes fun. I've turned it into a puzzle. At first I thought, I don't like shades. I don't like, you know, this is the hard part, but I turned it into a puzzle. I go, What if I do that? So I just heard a Disney guy, and I can't remember his name off top my head. He had a great point. He goes, I shoot for impact shapes. So what's your what? Here's the thing that people don't realize. I always thought colors would drew people to the painting. It's shapes, every gal, every top gallery owner, every top artist, will go, shapes are more important and values are more important. So anyway, as I go into it, I had to figure out a system where it was easier, and so I pulled the color out of it, and that made it a lot easier to deal with. Setting up a design for composition is really easy for me. Now, I may flip it. I can flip my board, do it. A lot of people do the little notans on the those little things. I prefer to go right to the canvas, because by the time I get my do six, three or four of those others, I have to convert it over to now my my panel, which is a different size, and then I've got to deal with that issue, so I just do it all on there, black and white, and I put it on real thin. And I mean, actually, it's on so thin that I can plein air paint right over it, and it won't mess me up. Okay, here's the other reason for that, all colors relative. So if what it used to be before they had chromatic black, I was doing warm tonals with like a transparent red oxide. But I noticed this because the whole panel was so warm and colors so relative, people were afraid to put a cool on there so they wouldn't get their painting. There wouldn't be enough cools in the paintings, and the painting would have an overall warmth. So by staying in a neutral color, you don't influence the other colors you're getting ready to put on and that's why Richard Schmidt would go like this. If you have a strong color, get it on there earlier so you because you're going to paint to what color is already on there. Now there's science for that too. If you put yellow it, you can see it real easily. If there's a mountain and you're looking at it, it may look kind of a grayish blue. If you stick that mountain between two yellow aspen trees, that yellow is going to turn that that mountain a little greenish and a little more bluish, and it'll glow in there. So the temperature shifts and the relativity of the color shifts everything. So you won't know it, but you're painting to whatever colors are already on that palette or on that painting. So that's why I stay as neutral as I can and start getting my bold color on and knowing it's going to affect everything in the so that's a pretty good bit there. If you have I can go on if you want me to Laura, if you have a question, I'm glad to take it.

Laura Arango Baier: 22:20

I think it's been so enlightening because it's so true. I mean, it's, uh, and I love how in depth you go into the design aspect, because I think it's so easy to just, you know, randomly go outside and just find a random spot and start painting, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a good painting, right? There's so much forethought that has to happen, just like you're mentioning, you know, like the planning out of, okay, well, I could change the landscape a little bit in my painting so that it lends itself to a more beautiful painting, while also referencing reality, but also careful understanding and planning of, okay, let's start out making sure that the shapes look good, the valleys look good, and then play with the color. I think that for sure, I can see how that would be super helpful, especially to a beginner, and especially someone like you, said, who's maybe starting later in life, and they like we I think in our previous conversation, we also discussed how you know, like, for example, red, that's a much darker value than it seems. Just because it's so bright, it doesn't mean that it's a high value. It's actually, I would say it's mid tone to dark. So it is very useful to have all of those things in mind for sure when you're starting out. But actually, I did want to ask you, and this is much more of a curiosity that I have, which is, how did you settle on plein air? Was that the first workshop you took and it was plein air, and you were like, Oh, I love this. Or,

Bill Davidson: 23:46

yeah, I mean, actually, that's a very good question, but I'm not sure I've ever told anybody this. I was going to a studio and trying to learn from this guy. And then, and I saw plein air, and I went, wow, there's workshops in plein air. And part of it is this, the greatest fun of it's being out there. I mean, it's and you learn so fast when you're out there, but you need studio to prepare yourself. I'll never forget, I took my teacher out plein air painting. I said, Well, go plein air painting, because I'd gone to a workshop. He went out there and did it one time. Went right back into the studio and I see, so I changed teachers, but here's here's the thing, it's just and the plein air. People are fun. They're a lot of fun. They're all helpful, and you get together, so like, it's really fun. I'll teach four indoor workshops, maybe a year, and then I teach one. I live in the Monterey Carmel area. So I teach two a year out here, because it's so beautiful, and it's six to eight people. And I actually, I'm getting ready to teach one in the Eastern Sierras this year, where I'm going to do the same thing, six to eight people. And you're there, you paint a solid four days. But what happens is this. Yes, you get to know each other. They start forming groups. You go to dinners. I mean, it's a game changer. It's not just painting, it's a whole life experience that's just amazing. And when I was teaching them in Europe, before COVID, we'd have 30 people, 15 students and 15 partners, and we would go to Italy, all over everywhere, and we go for like, eight, nine days. But the amazing thing was, you form bonds and friendships, and then you know each other all over the country. And the other thing was this, each time, when we announced the workshop the following year, it'd be sold out in four hours. So it's like, wow, so that you just get all these bonds. I mean, it's turned into more than art, I would say, all now, most of my best friends, or a lot of the ones my newer best friends, were all formed in art. And I've met even though, when I was a trial lawyer, I met lots of people. I've met, way more people have been seen, way more amazing things being a play there artist. So it's a life changing, altering experience. And I encourage everybody. You need to go to these live workshops. You need to be in, like around the artists. You meet them. I mean, I know artists now that, because of the workshops they they go across the country, they can stop at almost every city and visit with an artist they met in one of the workshops. So it's really fun. So that's why. And I mean, it's like, I mean, I don't want to be in the studio, I want to be outside, and I want to learn. And you learn faster painting from life everybody. I'll tell you that now you do the studio work, because I teach down at the booth Museum, I think every summer, in July, which is wonderful in Cartersville, Georgia. So I do that when I teach up at Highland. So I do teach indoor ones. And I think you have to have that before you get outside. I think you can go outside too. I just throw you. Here's what I would say, you throw yourself into it, and don't judge yourself. And you get around people that are supportive and that can teach you things where you learn, and it becomes a lot of fun. I get a lot of doctors, dentists. I mean, it's amazing. What little the people that'll come into workshops, they all get to know each other. It's, it's just, it's a life altering experience. So I don't know if I answered your question, but yeah,

Laura Arango Baier: 27:29

I mean, it plein air just seems like such a it seems like such a thriving community, especially in recent years. I think in the past, like 1015, years, it's exploded. And I love that, because there are so many incredible painters such as yourself, and the idea of, like, being able to have discussions with other plein air artists and have a proper meeting place like the plenary convention, and, you know, be able to discuss ideas and problem solve together, I think that is very underrated. And I think in some other genres of painting, I think that is lacking a little bit. So I think that's, yeah, that's a great reason to want to be a plethora artist. Well,

Bill Davidson: 28:11

it even if you don't want to be a pro. This is a way of living at a high level. I mean, I can just, I can say this, because when I do these smaller workshops. People are just happy, excited, and they can't wait to come. And they come all in, and they're sharing good meals and stories. And some of them are like, Yeah, I just love this. So I mean, it's just, it's, it's a great especially if you know it's great if you're young, but most people are in their 40s and 50s and 60s and 70s. Plus, it keeps you young, I can tell you that. And you stay in shape when you know you got to take your backpack and you're going up to 6000 feet and driving your car, even if you're at 6000 feet, that's strain for most people at sea level, but and plus everybody's there to support you. One of the things I found is I'm always trying to push a little bit too much. So I go, I try. I found that artist, especially plein air artist, or the friendliest and most supportive people there really are in any group I've seen, if you're going to be a singer, there's a kind of a little bit of a competition for Stage time, so it's not quite as the same way. So anyway, let's just but let me go back. I divert. I'll go back to how I actually set this up, because I want to talk before we get out of here about how I deal with the color part, since I've done the Grays okay? So I always, I always go into the question, and I always go, I'm coming in with playful awareness. The fastest way to get better is to learn to see better and to be and to. Have some the more aware you are of what you're doing, and it's playfully, the faster you grow, as I'm starting to set all this up. Oh, it's about seeing. So how do you start seeing better everything we've talked about? Try it feedback. Try it again, passive. But the other thing is this, you need to learn to see in your values. And the way to do that is to take your painting and to actually convert it to black and white, and one of the photo apps and look at it. Don't skip the step. These are the bones of your painting. These are where all your values and your shapes are. So you could look at it and go, Oh, I got like, 10 different values, and they're all of equal size. So you know, you're in trouble, because every shape supposed to be unique and different. So I'm always converting to black and white. And I've also learned just play with your painting and look at or any painting. Let's say you want a copy of painting, look at it. Raise the brilliance, lower the brilliance. You'll start, start seeing better, and then look for the best art you can find. And it's not always out there. I've got a buddy named Michael Lynch who's a fabulous painter, l, y, n, C, H, and nobody knows about him in this day and age, so, but he taught a lot of really great people to paint, and he's just fabulous. So don't just, I mean, start finding what you like, but make sure you're looking at really good art when you're like, getting ready to get ideas, okay, but the ability to play with that app will help you see better. It'll it'll show you that if you raise a value, a half a value here, it may make the whole difference in the light in your painting. And just change the painting and make it that much better. So that's a really big deal. Now, how do I deal with it? So I mixed up my three big values, right? And then what I'm going to do is I mix up 345, depending upon the size of the painting, all gray puddles in different values, with the chromatic black by gambling and the white. And I call these my power puddles of gorgeous grays and and the reason I do this is because what I can do is to make sure I'm nailing my value. I will start to I'll mix the values first and have these puddles. Then I'll start adding the color into it, and that way. So if I've got the painting going, and I pick up just the gray pile, a touch of it, and put it up here, and I see that that's too light, I know, to move over to another puddle before I put my color in it, and then adjust it if it drops that value a little bit or two bucks. So what I've learned is, by doing this, I'm twice as fast at painting, I'm way more accurate, and it's way more fun, because I know I'm getting my values right before I put it on there and ruin that section or have to wipe it off. So I just figured this out in the past six months, seven months. But I go, wow, this is, this is a game changer for me. And I've watched people in the workshops, they just loving it. So it's a great thing to do. I think you ought to try it at first. You'll be a little bit awkward, and you'll go, Oh, I could do it in black and white. It's value. I mean, it's got no color in it. But when you realize how much time you save and how much less you have to scrape off, and how you start, you starting to learn your values and your shape so much better. It'll be amazing, I think. So I would recommend that I would give it a try. And so the thing that makes there's two questions that I ask, and I think these are the most simplified questions in the world, how do you make a great painting? Well, the question isn't really that, it's, how do I make a painting more interesting? So that would be your question. So if I've got a painting going, I go, how can I make this the most interesting painting I can make then the second question is, it's always in the contrast. So here's how you make a painting more interesting. There's more contrast, yet it's still unified. And I mean by contrast in values, contrasted shapes, contrast in color and color temperature, contrast in line and edge. So that's really, that's how you're going to make in contrast in textures and layers. So I had a Russian this guy was a he was a world. Class figure painter. And so he would go, Bill, I got this figure on here. Help me fix these back landscapes behind them. So, but I noticed what he did one time. He would just look all around the whole painting and go, is every piece of that painting interesting? And I thought, That's it. It's the contrast. So let's say you paint a blue sky, but you go, well, it's okay. And this is what we all did, is really when we were first learning we just plain to painted a flat blue sky, right? No, there's all kinds of temperature shifts and vibrations. The more layers you can get in that sky, the more interesting that sky is going to be so part of my deal at Pace was to go how to use skies to enhance your paintings, your your and so I and the reason people don't paint a lot of Skies is because it shapes. And the reason they don't do that is because clouds are the few things that continue to move, and so you can't copy the shape. So you could copy into shapes a lot easier than making up shapes. That's where the rubber meets the road. So you have to learn to design your shapes, and the clouds aren't going to stay still. I was teaching a workshop one time, and make it a great group of people, and there were beautiful clouds. And I said, Okay, I'll do a cloud demo right at five. Got so everybody lined up behind me. They wouldn't cloud in the sky. I thought, oh, so it was the perfect time to teach. I said, so here's what happens. You have to make those clouds up anyway, which means you have to make up good shape. So that's where the couch comes in and the dominant so I'm always going to have a dominant cloud and then a smaller cloud like that, it goes on so, and you'll find that shapes are the hardest. And listen, when you're playing with the shape, get on the edge, blur the edge. You don't have to redo the whole shape most of the time. Just get on the edge of that shape, you know, and start to play with one edge, because it's affecting a negative shape also. So that's why shapes become, I think, the most difficult part. But really the pros, they just, they, they just keep doing it. So I kept asking questions. Well, what are you thinking when you're doing this? Nobody would could answer me really, and really, what it is is they're setting up unique, very unique shapes. They're all different, and they're all related to each other. So and Sargent used to go in and go like this. He used to go, he'd go paint a stroke, and then it stepped back. Well, what he was doing was, and that goes to my one question, is this stroke making the painting more interesting and unified at the same time. And if that's, if you did that for every stroke, you'd start to really go, boom, boom, boom. Now it's not gonna, it's, that's, that's usually more with the closer I get towards the end, but it's, I'm thinking of textures. I'm thinking of color shifts, temperature shifts. And for people that don't know this, the other beauty of the gray puddles is this, if you go look at great works, you'll notice that way back in the landscape, it's all grayed off. It's just very gray. So the real strong, rich colors are usually up front, and these are general guidelines, and then they get a little grayer in the mid tone, and they get a little way gray or as they go farther back. And so I can actually mix my color for the foreground. And if it's repeated, all I have to do is take one of my gray puddles and add some gray in, move it back, more gray in, lose it farther back, and you'll actually learn that you may have a puddle sitting on your palate that's all gray, but if it's stuck between a blue and a red back there, all of a sudden, what looked gray on your palette as a nice violet who cause it's picking up the blue and the red next to it, so you don't even have to change it. You just put that gray right up there. You go, Whoa, that's just beautiful. And you, you know you're in your right value. So that's kind of how I go about it. I know what my concept is. Always, I don't want to get lost on my concept. So if I'm out there and I go, Well, let's say I'm painting the scene behind me. I go, I want those poppies to glow and I want them to shine. That would be my concept of the painting. So everything else is related to that. The one other thing I didn't talk about is you need a journey through the painting. So once you figure out where your focal area is going to be, and then I usually have a secondary area of interest on the opposite side of the canvas in the diagonal fashion. And so I want to move you through all my journey, all the way through the painting. And that's part of so all my life. Lines, I'll adjust them, and so to make sure that there's a movement and I can use edges in contrast. And it's that journey through the painting you want an interesting journey, so that people really can walk through your painting and find interest everywhere they go. The part of the big shapes is though, that's because it's bold from across the room you want to impact. So you have to have still have that major couch in there, that major value. So don't get confused by people go, Okay, I'm going to use this mountain and make that that's going to be my major value if you want to try to join your value. So if the mountain is a value, and all of a sudden I look at it and the water is the same value. I could merge those two values and have one huge, nice shape. It'll just be color and temperature shifts. So I think that's where people get confused. They go, Oh yeah, I need a big shape. And then they go, put a big rock in, as opposed to, is the shade of that rock. The same value is, say, the shade on the ground plane or the light in the ground. But however you do it, that's getting a little more complex, and we need to get into right now. But just if you keep it simple, it's fairly easy. It's all values and shapes, and then you mix your color and color temperatures. So, you know, does that in my mind, design is not that hard. Because, I mean, you have a, usually an area of interest, you have a secondary or tertiary area of interest, and you have a journey to get to it. And if I do it in black and white, I'm not using all that color, and realize I have a bad design. So I guess that's kind of what does it and the tools, like, I use rosemary brushes because, and I've actually got my own set she puts out because I've got soft ones and hard ones. And then I love to play with the palette knife too. But so whatever tools you want to use that can create interest too. I mean, like it was funny. I was doing a waterfall, and I learned this little spray technique by just pulling on it, and I sprayed some mist in there, and I went on that worked. So it's the play part that begets fun, but you have to pay attention to the big things. So it's the same thing. If I was to take you, when I teach at the booth Museum, they have a fabulous Western art museum down in Cartersville, Georgia, and it's only, like, 45 minutes north of Atlanta. It I well, I take the class through, and I have a pointer and will stand in the middle of a big area with all kinds of great paintings. And there's a guy named Howard turkney. He's an Indian painter, and he's, I mean, his paintings go for a million dollars. They're amazing. But you can see how the value, his big value, shapes hold together. They're dominant. You can see, if you spun around in the room. You go, those are the best paintings in here, because of the impact from across the room. And then you go up in there, and you can find all the interest. So, I mean, that's just, those are guidelines of good art, and that's what you really got to get to. And you know, I mean, it's hard to kind of describe how to do it, but, I mean, it's just, it's something you could learn. I would suggest to you that you do stay in in your grays and watch your values and shapes, because that's what's going to take you farther away faster. But it has to be playful, or you're going to quit and or you're going to freeze up. You're going to get fear so listen, I can tell you, I was the worst I went to. I entered a painting in the show one time, or not a show, but where everybody there was a plein air painting thing, and then they were doing critiques. And there were like 200 artists there, and they were critiquing them to throw them up on the big screen, mine goes up and it goes that all they said was nice frame and that they moved on. You know what? I mean? So it was hilarious. So I'm like, oh god, there's my painting. That was not good, but so don't be afraid laugh it off, you know? I mean, I went my one of my first workshops. I went with a buddy, and he was kind of an abstract painter. He told everybody the class, he goes, oh, oh, these are good. Bill's pretty good. And I'm like, I'm not good. I'm just, you're an abstract guy. You just think I'm a little better. So he and then we go to this painting scene, and I paint these two horrible paintings in the morning because it's plain air as Red Rock. I had no idea what I was doing. And I was like, then it started raining, and we left. We went to lunch. He goes, where are your paintings? I said, Oh God, I forgot them. I left them back at the painting scene. And so he goes, you want to go get them? I said, Oh no, they were pretty bad. I think they belong in the trash can. So we show up the next day, and the teachers sit there, and everybody's in a class. And they go, Oh, we found these paintings yesterday afternoon, and of course, they were mine. And it goes, Whose are these? Not even gonna claim. I'm just gonna sit here, and my buddy goes, there pills and pills. It was so funny, because I thought they belonged in the TR I picked them up in front of everybody. I went over, just dumped them in the trash can. So these things are fun and they're good memories, and so don't, don't get hung up in your ego. It's nice to build your confidence. But I mean, don't, don't let your ego get in the way of learning. Okay, I mean, I mean, I could have quit. There were many moments where it would have been possible to crawl in a hole and quit, but it was too much fun, and so don't let that happen. And so you have to make it a game, and every painting is a puzzle, and you don't use the word critique or fail. You go, oh, that didn't work. Maybe I'll try that, and that. That's how you're going to get better. But you do have to go to all the workshops. You do have to, you have to be around constructive people, and you have to work with people where you think they're helping you and they're actually trying to help you. I mean, I've had people go, Oh, don't give out all your fire. I go, why not? It's hard enough to do. You just need to give everything out. And we'll all raise our own level as we keep going. So, I mean, you know, it's just, it's just, I think, and I think you'll find the plein air people are great, you know. Oh, also I do so I send out tips, because there's stuff I like to do for free to help people, because I had a rough you know, it's hard enough learning. So I send out my newsletter every about every two weeks. I call it Bill's tip jar, and I put tips in and things of that. And you could just send me an email at BD, which is Bill Davidson studios at Mac, M, a, c.com, and just type, subscribe, we'll add you to it, and then it shows my workshops and things of that type nature, but they're just added as an afterthought. I talk about materials and show paintings. But anyway, if you want to do that, you're welcome to join. It's a lot of fun. And so I don't know that I cover too much.

Laura Arango Baier: 47:19

No, I I mean, I think you have covered such a wonderful amount of information. And actually, funny enough, it's one of those things where it's it's painting is such a the gift that keeps on giving, that you gave us all of these incredible tips. And there's always more, if you've been enjoying the podcast and also want to be able to ask our guests live questions, then you might want to join our monthly BoldBrush live webinars where our guest artists guest marketing tips, share inspiring stories and answer your burning questions in real time. Whether you're a seasoned painter or just starting your creative journey, this is your chance to connect, learn and spark new ideas. And whether you're stuck on a canvas or building your creative business, this is where breakthroughs happen. Don't miss out. Ignite your passion and transform your art practice by joining us. Our next BoldBrush Live Webinar is coming up on June 19, with our special guest, John Lasseter. You can find the sign up link in the show notes at BoldBrush, we inspire artists to inspire the world, because creating art creates magic, and the world is currently in desperate need of magic. BoldBrush provides artists with free art marketing, creativity and business ideas and information. This show is an example. We also offer written resources, articles and a free monthly art contest open to all visual artists. We believe that fortune favors the bold brush, and if you believe that too, sign up completely free@boldbrushshow.com that's B, O, L, d, b, r, U, S, H show.com. The BoldBrush Show is sponsored by Faso. Now more than ever, it's crucial to have a website when you're an artist, especially if you want to be a professional in your career. Thankfully, with our special ink faso.com forward slash podcast, you can make that come true and also get over 50% off your first year on your artist website. Yes, that's basically the price of 12 lattes in one year, which I think is a really great deal, considering that you get sleek and beautiful website templates that are also mobile friendly, e commerce, print on demand in certain countries, as well as access to our marketing center that has our brand new art marketing calendar. And the art marketing calendar is something that you won't get with our competitor. The Art marketing calendar gives you day by day, step by step, guides on what you should be doing today right now, in order to get your artwork out there and seeing by the right eyes, so that you can make more sales this year. So if you want to change your life and actually meet your sales goal this year, then start now by going to our special link, faso.com, forward slash podcast, that's F, A, S, o.com. Forward slash podcast, there's. Always more.

Bill Davidson: 50:01

That's so true. I tell some like, I always go, my thought was, how much can I give in 60 minutes? And then you go, Well, the reality is, and I tell people, listen workshop, I could stand up here for 40 days and 40 nights and just keep talking and giving it so you'll never stop learning. Yeah, I've always thought that I that one that there was no better way to teach when I get to a certain level, and then six months later go, oh, I can teach it this way. It's easier to learn this way. You know, it's more simple, you know, that type of thing. So it never stops You're so right? Laura, yeah,

Laura Arango Baier: 50:35

yeah. It's, uh, it's one of it's one of those things where, like, even Michelangelo, when he was 80 years old, he was like, I think I'm getting better. Like, I think I'm think I get it now, you know, and he was 80. And it goes to show that, you know, this career, right, being an artist and being a crafts person of this nature, it's, it's something that spans beyond a lifetime and and that makes it sound a little bit serious, but if you're enjoying it, and you know, you're learning fast, and you're just doing it for the love of it, then before you know it, you're, you know, popping out these incredible pieces, and that inspires other people. Then suddenly we're, you know, on each other's like, how we say, like we're on the shoulders of giants, and like, we just keep going. We're continuing the work of our forefathers in the painting realm. I

Bill Davidson: 51:25

think that's so true. And you know that, look, if you got there, it loses its curiosity and its passion. I mean, if you go, Okay, I've done it, then what? What else is there? I mean, but it never is, yep, and that it's keep your curiosity up and that keeps your passion up and don't get discouraged. I mean, I mean, really I was, I mean, my first set of trees look like the pillars of the Supreme Court building, all equally shaped, all straight up and down, yada yada. So, you know, and I still work on that. So it's just, it actually gets more intriguing the more you get into it. And look, you don't have to if you don't want it to be your profession, it doesn't have to be. Oh, so here's a little bit of advice. So as a recovering lawyer, I started painting while I was a lawyer, and then I kept thinking, Wow. I just thought it quit and go right into it. Be careful. I talked to a psychologist one time, and he was in one of my workshops, and I was like, Well, you know, and he goes, Well, you if you step, if you just jump, all of a sudden you're out there with a lot of pressure on you to try to make it and and it's a lot of pressure. So I kind of had one foot in both worlds for a while, which isn't that much fun, but I think it's more fun than sitting in a studio going, well, I'm going to try to create a masterpiece, but I don't have the skills yet to do that, and then you're just then you're trying to do something to support yourself, or your skill level is not up to the point where it needs to be. So it's, that's a tough question. It's not good to have your foot in both worlds, but it's better than being standing there, going, I'm scared to death, that I'm frozen because I don't have the skill level yet to do what I need to do. And it looked it's like everything else. It's like I entered competitions and and got and did all that stuff to try to figure out where I fit nationally. And then once I get, once I get, now I don't belong to anything or enter really anything anymore, because I felt like after a while, it was hampering me a bit. I was painting for that competition or for that so you just have to go with your own internal flow and see what suits you and fits well for you, everybody's a little different. And if you know, if you don't like my method, find another method. There's plenty now. There's much better instructors than when I first came along. And there's more videos that are really good. I mean, plein air painting, I think was in the East Coast. It was really new 20 years ago, 25 years ago. Now it's like now, it's picked up a lot, but, yeah, but it's life experience. It's life altering. The friendships are amazing. The workshops, especially travel workshops, are great fun. You need both studio and then you need the other kind. And videos are great because they give you the repetition. So I had some, had a guy tell me one time I've had this actually several times, the guy goes, they'll be at a workshop, and we'll be out to dinner, and their partner may be in the workshop, and they'll go, Oh, I'm so sick of listening to you before I go to bed at night. I can't stand it. I'm sorry, but if somebody watched a video. So anyway. It's all fun. And I think if you keep it fun, you can create really great art. And I think that's the whole ticket to keep going also, and it's also that's when you take risk, when you're not so worried about, am I going to fail? Is this embarrassing? You know, that type of thing. I'd go to workshops and go, Hey, would somebody come over and paint my foreground? I can't paint foreground. And I was in one workshop, and I was like, Ah, so I was talking to the teacher, and I said, you know, I'm just not good at trees. I think, I think I'm just not gonna put a lot of men. He goes, you're gonna be a landscape painter, right? I go, Yeah, he goes. Good luck with that. So anyway, it's just stuff like that. It kind of makes it, keeps it light, keeps it humorous. And those are the type people you want to be around and listen. It makes it, makes life fun. You know, I was somebody was telling me the other day because I said, God, those paintings were so good. And I went, well, well, you didn't see the flubs that I did too, before, maybe around or after that. So the flubs is what you learn from. So it's just, you know, that's, I mean, if you create a great painting, you're probably not gonna learn much. So always push it. I always go, 5% more. Okay, if you push it 50% more you gotta, you're gonna freak out. But always keep advancing yourself 5% more, and then it still stays fine at the same time, while you grow it, if you just go, Well, I'm just gonna sit here and I'm gonna crank out shapes for two months in a row, and I'm not leaving my studio. I mean, you may get it done, but you're going to be miserable, and you're probably going to quit painting at some point. So anyway, I don't know, let's see. You got any questions, you know? Like, I say I could go on for 40 days and 40 nights, and probably you could too,

Laura Arango Baier: 57:00

Oh, for sure, especially, you know, because, again, it's one of those things where there's always something, there's always a rabbit hole to dive into in terms of painting and the creation of painting. But of course, what I'm also curious, a bit more curious about too, is the since you mentioned, like you had your foot in both worlds, right? You were both lawyer and painter at the same time until, of course, your paintings picked up, I'm guessing, and then you were able to just leave the lawyer practice. So what was, what was it like for you? Because, of course, you mentioned also, like, it's not fun to be in those two worlds, but the economic pressure of just making the jump can be really scary for a lot of people. How, how did you manage that jump? And then also over time, how have you diversified your income in order to continue to make a living?

Bill Davidson: 57:52

Well, I mean, I also teach, so, but I enjoy teaching. Some people don't enjoy it. So what I'm teaching, it, it works out to where that helps to and so. But I kind of, I was watching to see how I could build my skill level as I went. Okay, so that was part of it. I and then I would like international shows to go, Hey, how do I stand on a national level? First, you do everything local, you know, you sell to your friends, things of that type, nature. And then it starts to build on itself, and you start putting yourself out there, if you but I think you have to get kind of, it's still got to be a risk. Gotta go, Okay, I'm going to do this. If I get rejected, I can't worry about it. And that takes, I mean, for art can be subjective, so I'm real leery of one judge judging a competition. So I recommended to Olmstead, and they did it. Now, Laguna plein air, does it, I think three judges, so that three judges do the best to show. Because if you're trying to enter OPA or AIs, and you're trying to just get in the show, there's five artists, and they're not talking to each other, and there are already signature members, and they're judging. So that that is pretty honest, but I've seen too many, you know, it's just too subjective, and I've seen too many things go wrong sometimes where there's just one judge. So don't, don't be if you get rejected or you don't win this or that, you can ask yourself, How do I need to do better? But a lot of it sometimes can be subjective. So don't let it bother you. That's the whole point. You have to if you if you're happy, and you go, I'm going to do this forever because I'm passionate about it, and I'm going to keep going, and that's what I'm going to do. It is, I don't care what anybody thinks, you know, I'm just going to keep getting better. And this is the way I want to. Ain't, and this is the way it's going to go. Eventually, somebody's going to find your story and what you do and like it. So that's the best thing, because, and, oh, this is a great one. People go, Well, I want to, I want to develop my style. Your style finds you. It's like your signature, okay, you, you can't just sit in the room and walk out and go, I've developed my style. Okay, it's not going to happen. It's going to happen over time. It's coming to you. So don't, don't be worried about it. I mean, I had people telling me when I was first starting, oh, yeah, I can spot your painting. You know, I couldn't. I said, Well, how do I know my things different from anybody else's other people could spot it way before I could. So, yeah, don't. Don't be Don't, don't. In other words, don't live in your own little world, in your own little studio, and think you're doing all right. You have to get out there and go, Yeah, I'm gonna get it's not gonna go well sometimes and other times it's gonna go fine, then that's just the way it goes. So, and that's part of life, but that, without some risk, you're gonna be bored to death. And that's the I mean, I always like to go. I just want to take it a little farther. Take a little farther, try that. And that's you go. But be prepared it may not go your way. So if you're just painting for your passion and your love and you're enjoying everybody, that stuff's not going to bother you near as much as it would, you know, if you if, if you can't get in and it keeps going that way, you need to get with a teacher and go, What am I doing that I could fix? Or, how do I fix this? But you never go, I'm no good. I'm not going to ever get good at shapes or ever get good at values. You go, I can learn this. I just need the techniques and the tips that are going to help me learn this and then practice it, get feedback and keep going that way. So, yeah, it's an interesting it's an interesting journey. I think it's well worthwhile. I don't, don't jump too soon and keep learning. It's the ticket is to be growing. It's that neuroscience of, if you have a growth mindset and you're going, how can I learn this? You will get there. And, you know, sometimes you just have to keep looking around till you find the right people I want, you know, I go to teachers and sometimes and I go, What do you think? And when you're doing that, and they, I mean, either they done it for so long, they forget, they do it intuitively then, or they just don't have the verbal communication skills to tell you what they're doing so, and I can see it in their in their eyes, you know. And then the other thing is, if you've got your teacher, be careful, because I noticed this when I was going to the figure classes. Sometimes a good teacher won't overload a person. In other words, you could give them one two things to work on, on, on, on that painting. But if you all of a sudden that three more their eyes are going to glaze over and they're going to lose the first two. So most teachers that are highly aware will be careful how much they give you at one time on your own painting. So anyway, it's, it's a teaching is the same thing like painting. It's a balancing act a lot of the times. So you you know, how do you help somebody get faster, way better? That's a big deal. So anyway, I, you know, I hope I gave some people some things to to chew on and to and to motivate them. Actually, the key is to motivate and inspire so that you continue on the path. And believe me, the friendships are amazing and the times are great, and you just have too good at time, like when I do these, these workshops in Carmel or the Eastern Sierras, they're just so much fun. We're all we're all going to the dinner. I mean, you're talking art the whole time, lunch, breakfast, dinner, everybody's outdoor painting. They're having a ball. Those are so and even the ones in the studio, they're a lot of fun, too good. I usually make an effort to go to dinner with everybody when I teach a workshop, so that everybody can say, I find that that part, when they're chatting and they're talking, they get as much out of that as they do because they're meeting each other and they're talking and they're talking at their same levels. So that's an integral part. And I will tell people, you know, if I go somewhere where everybody lives in the same city that Well, I take and they don't go to the dinners. They just go home. They're missing a big part of the workshop. One of the first workshops I taught in Macon Georgia was hilarious. They a great group of people. And I'm from Atlanta, and so I they go, come on down to bacon. I went, Well, I don't know, do I really want to go to Macon? They go. Oh, yeah, yeah. So they, they are some they, they have their own critique group. They got, I don't know how many they have. I go down there. They have a big party the first night, 30 people, everything. Every night is a dinner at a country club, yada yada yada. We go for like, four days, and they go, Hey, how about staying another day? We'll do I go, I can't. Y'all are killing me. I just can't make it another day. So anyway, it was so much fun, but that that's an integral part, be a part of it. Don't go, you know, there's, you know, there's all kinds of people out of you know, if you, even if you only go one or two nights, it's worth doing it. So I encourage journey workshops, workshops where you're with the group and you all, you know, you traveling. That's why I think Carmel, the Sierras, those type things are, I mean, they're just all great fun. Anyway, I'm probably talking too much now, so I better quit.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:05:57

It's, it's great you've given, truly, just like you said, you're giving it all, you're giving it all. And I think that is a really wonderful philosophy to have as well, since you mentioned it earlier, because I know that there are some people out there who think, oh, I don't want to give all my secrets away, quote, unquote, but it's really no secret, because, I mean, someone's already done it, and we're all going to find it out anyway. But then also, not everyone's gonna be able to use that advice in the same way, right? Because maybe it works for some people, but not for others, right? So I think it's great that you have this. I'll just give all of it and then see if anyone is able to catch on to it. Because also, like you said, it's not easy anyway.

Bill Davidson: 1:06:40

No, it's, it's not. And, you know, I mean, it's, but as long as you break it off in pieces, you get there. That's why I break down my values and shapes before I do my color. I mean, I knew that it was too hard for me to throw all three balls in the air, and it wasn't working. I mean, I'd go to workshops and watch people and I go, I don't know that any of us are that much better now, the teachings a lot better than it ever was that when I was going back then. But I did have good workshops and good teachers and, you know, like, people be careful. There's always little threads. Like, when somebody goes, if you did values, you get way ahead of everybody. That was just one little statement. Then I went, ooh, that's accurate. Now, you may not like that state, but I didn't like it at first. I was like, I'm not gonna do that. Or I go to Gallery. They go, No, you see shades before you see color. I go, come on. You know, I want especially being a recovering lawyer. I don't. I wanted to argue that point, but I was clearly wrong. So I would have to go. I would when I went to workshops, because I've been used to being a lawyer, and I was used to kind of telling people what to do. I had a little meme. I'd go zip my lip so that I wouldn't say anything when the teacher came by and go, Well, if you did this and you did that, this is funny. I I was in a plein air workshop, and I painted this little area, and it was like, God, that's the best little area I ever painted in my life. There comes a teacher came by and I'd spent like 20 minutes on this little area because mine two strokes and just wipes it out. Boom, it's all gone like that. Oh, my God, you know so, but it was what I needed. So anyway, it's just don't be afraid when something like that happens. The teacher's saying, probably much better than you are, or you wouldn't be there. Because at first I went and I helped somebody teach a great big workshop. And this was really funny. It was Christensen workshop, and I was like, when I said, yeah, yeah, sure, I'll come. I'll help teach it. And I got there, and I'll never forget the first day I walked up, I went, but what if I can't help them? That was my first question. And then, and then, what you realize is I could help them, because I was better than they were at that point, and so, but at first I was like, whoa, what if I can't so it's really funny, because you go, Why am I in the workshop? It's because that person knows and has just knows more than you do, and can help guide you and direct you in a way that you're probably going to be able to use. So anyway, it's funny. So take, you know, take your risk, do it, and just be aware. And the way to be aware is to be you're going to learn way faster if you're very aware of what you're doing, as opposed to up there just scrambling paint on there. If you go up there and you go and you test that value in the color, and then you mix it. So don't get lazy on your color. Spend some time, get the color right in the right value in the right temperature, and then put it on there. Don't get it. Up there and go, Well, it's close enough that's not going to work, you know. But so, you know, of course, there's a lot more to it. There's paint movement and all those things. But, you know, you can't, I mean, I was funny. I was watching people, and I was watching, I go to the demos and pace, and I was watching them, and I'm going, people were talking about techniques, text, you know, and all these other things that are great. And I'm sitting there thinking, yeah, what some of these people aren't seeing is all their shapes and values are dead on. And that's, that's, you know, the techniques are great. And using the palette knife and playing with this is all great. But what really has to be those bones that black and white underneath that thing that holds the body up has to be right, or that whole structure is going to fall down. So but try the tip on the major, the dominant shape and things of that type nature. And I think you'll see that it works. Try the try the puddles. Come join me in a workshop. Get some videos. Do whatever. If you think this is along your line. It was a pleasure doing this for you. So,

Laura Arango Baier: 1:11:12

yeah, yeah, this is awesome. And now that you mentioned, you know, the the workshops, do you have any workshops that still have a open seats or openings that are I have?

Bill Davidson: 1:11:21

I have it the only one in the summer. There's four in July in the southeast, the booth may have two spots left the booth Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. It's in July. And I'm just now setting up my Carmel workshop in December and my Sierra Nevada workshop, and those will be plein air, small groups, six to eight that will go out and by email in about a week. And so those, those tend to feel fast because they're so small, but I do that because I can work with people more in a group of eight or six, and there's dinner. You go to dinner together and everything so, but, yeah, I haven't even those are just, I'm just starting to roll those out. So, yeah, jump in. This is a good time to do it. And if you want further look at landscapes reinvented by streamline, I think you'll find that I go into this gray a lot, and I added the puddle mixing thing. So we're going to be working on another video. What. I don't know when that'll release, but it's just it's mixing the puddles, the gray puddles, and adding the color into them is a big deal. I found it's just much faster for me and faster for a lot of other people. If that, if this works for you, great. If it doesn't, if you, you know, just find something that does that's my theory. But do it, I guess it's like the Nike thing. Just do it exactly

Laura Arango Baier: 1:13:00

right and and then, what is your website?

Bill Davidson: 1:13:05

Bill Davidson, dot, biz, B, I Z. Well, funny thing is, it keeps my I don't. I don't do that as well as like now everybody's posted on Facebook and Instagram, so I think you could just find me on Facebook and Bill Davidson and Instagram. You can find it Bill Davidson artist. Maybe you can usually just Google Bill Davidson artist, and everything will come up so, you know, but yeah, or just join the email list. Just send me a type it, subscribe bd studios@mac.com and we'll put you on there. Then if you don't like my tips, you can always just unsubscribe at any time. So yeah, yeah, I told the tips in there, all the workshops get listed in there, and I throw up paintings, and sometimes I'll convert them into black and white and go look, this is a value issue or something. So it's fun, but, and there's no cost for that, I just put that out there. So kind

Laura Arango Baier: 1:14:06

of like, oh yeah, continue, go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna say that. We're gonna be including all the links in the show notes as well, so people can jump right in and check it out immediately.

Bill Davidson: 1:14:16

Well, great. Well, I mean, I hope I was some help to somebody. So, oh

Laura Arango Baier: 1:14:21

yeah, I I'm over here thinking, like, man, maybe I should try plein air. Finally. Give it a shot.

Bill Davidson: 1:14:28

You won't regret it. Yeah, it's just too much fun, even if you go, Well, I This isn't something I'm going to want to do. It's kind of like I go in the figure class. I go, I'm never going to paint a figure. I don't even intend to sell a figure, but it still helps. But played air spot, I think, be being outside. I mean, I can when I go down here and I teach Carmel, I go down here and I go, right. I mean, everything's we can paint within two miles. You go down here and you set up, but it's a nice, sunny day and you're sitting there going, what's better than this? Yeah. Yeah, not much. Very true. You need to do it, but you were highly organized. I appreciate it. You got everything to me. Everything was well laid out. So congratulations to you on a job well done. Laura.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:15:14

Oh, well, thank you. I mean, you're, obviously, you're, you're the one who's giving all of this incredible information that you've learned over so many years of your career that I feel like I'm the one who's honored to have you. So thank you.

Bill Davidson: 1:15:29

Well, you know, like we say, We're all just out there trying, so we all need each other's help, so the more we can give to each other, and then it's even more fun, you know, yes, definitely, so it's just great. So I really appreciate so

Laura Arango Baier: 1:15:45

awesome. Well, thank you. Bye.