Watercolor portrait workshop with Ted Nuttall.... fantastic!!!

We loaded up the car for our first day of workshop, my sister and I.  I had talked her into attending with me. She drove across the country to see our dad and mom and head to Texas to take this class. Such an adventure.
This was a workshop with a world renown portrait artist.  Ted Nuttall, whom I had been wanting to take from for a number of years now, was in the area.  This workshop just seemed to come out of nowhere.  I knew that it was now or never.  It was finally in my reach.  I would not have the expense of traveling to somewhere else.
I really did not know what to expect.  I have not taken from anyone else except my very talented watercolor instructor in Denton..
So when we walked into class, we were very pleasantly surprised.  Ted was a very warm and genuine human being.  He was funny and very interesting to listen to.  And not at all hard on the eyes.  Sorry, Ted, being a single woman these days that seems to entertain me.  It was a very enlightening class.  Not only the talent that is within this man, but the ability to connect with his students.    Most of us signed up to learn his technique of painting very loose and to absorb his sense of color.  He uses so many colors to get his characters to come to life in his paintings. And come to life they do!!  If I could absorb an ounce of what he was teaching would be advantageous to my career.
To think that we had four more days of his teachings. I looked forward to each day and what I could learn from him.  How inspiring he was.  He always had something to teach us in so many ways.
He gave all of us a sense of comfort when he would mention how nervous he was having 16 people watching over his shoulder as he was talking his way to applying paint to the paper.

What was really amazing to all of us, I think, was how meticulous he was when he applied paint to the paper and what a deliciously loose feel he brought to his paintings.  We were all sure that he had to just juicily apply that color to his page.  Boy, were we amazed.  And the "sloppy dots" that he is so well known for were in fact not sloppy at all, but placed in their spots ever so carefully to achieve that effect.

This last photo is my attempt at a portrait.  I did not accomplish his technique, exactly, but we really are just learning his technique and applying it to our own style.  It came out rather nice, if I do say so myself.

You can see, if you know what to look for, my attempt at "sloppy dots".