Shari Blaukopf's Watercolour Workshop

I'm spending a couple of days at a watercolour workshop given by Shari Blaukopf at John Abbott College in the west end of Montreal.  Shari is also a member of Urban Sketchers and has been faithfully posting a sketch every day since last fall. http://shariblaukopf.com/2012/06/05/montreal-workshop-day-1/

Today we worked on values.  The exercise was to do a planning sketch which blocked out light, mid and dark areas then do a painting.  I found this very helpful and will continue to block out  a 'plan' before starting into a full page. The photo was my third practice sketch and painting.  It is a mundane representation of a magnificent ginko tree with a huge buttress and multiple stems, which in my experience, is unusual as most of the ginkos I know are one trunk with higher branches.  This illustrates my challenge - my quick sketch is better than my painting.