Portrait #1

Admittedly, these are not the very first portraits I have ever produced... it is just easier to blog them that way.  Anyway, this portrait was produced in the workshop I took on September 16 and 17.  

There are a wide variety of flesh-tone palettes floating around out there.  Of course, they all have their purposes and each individual has to experiment to find what best suits his/her needs.  I remember taking a portraiture class in which we were given a lengthy list of required hues for  palettes which we had to first mix up before we actually started painting.  All the mixing took the fun out of it!  Plus, if you have a fidgety subject sitting in front of you, you better hope you don't have to stop and remix a complicated palette should you run out of a certain mixture.  It all boils down to this:  a simple palette is an easily reproduced palette and, also, an easily remembered palette.  The palette for this gentleman was:

alizarin crimson

cadmium red

cobalt blue 

yellow ochre

titanium white

Pretty simple, huh? 

I used bristle brushes and one mongoose brush.  I love the mongoose - if you haven't used them, buy and try one.  They are the perfect cross between a hog bristle and sable - a firm spring with the soft feel of the sable.

Tips about portraiture:
To create a three-dimensional portrait, keep the sides of the head blurry.  The focal point of the subject will have the most defined edges and be the most detailed.  Cameras, which have their purpose, tend to capture more than what the human eye can perceive all at once.  My suggestion is to work from a live model if at all possible.  Use photos as a reference when the model is unavailable.

Capture a moment!

Janet

Wine Down Wednesdays

Click on the 

information to enlarge!

Thanks for looking!

John Michael Carter Workshop

Paintings in the blogpost for today were created in a demonstration by John Michael Carter.















In the beginning . . . 




       there was the model, canvas, paint and turpentine...



    

The master created a likeness of the model upon the canvas  . . .

              .  .  .  and the Students saw that is was  

                                             Good!

I attended a workshop led by John Michael Carter, http://www.johnmichaelcarter.com/, last week in Madison, IN.

It was a wonderful two days of demos, learning, painting, 

chatting, critiquing, etc, etc.  I definitely enjoyed his teaching style - it reminded my of my formal training at Herron.  

From start to finish, his demo was 3 hours in length.  Of course, he was speaking to us during the demo so the amount of time actually spent painting the canvas I'm guessing was about 1 hour, if that.  It was good to hear him reinforce very basic principals and approaches.  And, you know, how someone gives you the same information that you have heard before, but, says it in such a way as it finally penetrates your thick skull?  Yup!  That was me!   

I enjoyed the workshop and I would recommend it very highly.  I think it was a solid investment of my money and time!  I'm very excited to put into practice what I learned.  Thursday night Alumni drawing/painting session here I come!

"Botanical Rex"

30"h  x 22"w
unframed size

Yes, I haven't posted for a while.  My other postings have led up to this. . .  the above piece, Botanical Rex, which has been finished for quite some time.  This entry hung at the Indiana State Fair this year.   I have been working on some other projects that I will be posting in the next couple of days.  

Janet  :-)