This continued to be an informative and valuable course. I found the instruction and the feedback to be excellent.
Week 4 was some work on 2 value heads:
Then some work on Eyes in week 5:
LoveLifeDrawing III
Tag lessons
LoveLifeDrawing II
After learning to see and construct the head and facial structure we moved on to drawing the shapes in two values, still using basic shapes, no features yet.
Love Life Drawing I
At a local Life Drawing lesson in the Spring the instructor had materials from LoveLifeDrawing.com.
I was impressed with the straight-forward breakdown of difficult concepts (how to draw a live figure), so I looked at the website and worked on the ‘Fresh Eyes Challenge’.
This Fall, I saw LoveLifeDrawing was offering a new Portrait Course. This fit with my goals, so I joined the ‘study group’. This costs a monthly fee that pays for all courses as long as you are a member. The teacher is called Kenzo and he’s in the UK.
It was a great course! The subject was broken down into manageable steps, and the site has lots of opportunity for sharing your work and progress, plus an excellent system for receiving video feedback once a week. The course was on live Zoom calls, with real-time questions encouraged.
Two or three times a month there is a live ‘Co-drawing’ session for 90 minutes each time. We all draw 5 minute and 15 minute poses/portraits and then can hold up our work for immediate feedback.
Catch up—Bold Brushwork course 2023
December 07, 2023
(I wrote this a couple of months ago, but a lot of October and November has been taken up with the end of life of my mother. She has now passed away, and I’m attempting to return to my ‘usual’ practices).
Following on from the Mastering Composition Course (Ian Roberts) which I took in January-March 2023, I then signed up for the Bold Brushwork Course (April-June). This was only open to people who had taken part in the Mastering Composition Course.
The first lessons and exercises were to practice value scales, edge scales and gradations in paint—(Ivory black and Titanium White). Most students used oil paint, although some used acrylic, watercolor, gouache, or pastel.
Then we painted compositions in black and white, concentrating on values, shapes, and edges, using a ‘Paint It and Leave it’ approach.
The next step was to consider color temperature, and to do this we added yellow ochre to the palette to indicate warm light, and used the ivory black to indicate cool light. (Our paintings were limited to warm light and cool shadow situations for the learning purpose).
In the final part of the course, we added an extra color dimension and used Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Orange and Titanium White. Now there was more intensity to deal with, either to mute or to use in small amounts as an accent.
It was a very rewarding course. I felt I improved at putting on thick paint and ‘one touch’ brushstrokes, and gained a much better understanding of color temperature.
Portrait Society Conference 2023
In May I attended the Annual Conference of The Portrait Society, my second year to go, this time in Reston, VA. I had a wonderful time, meeting people from last year, meeting new people, learning new things and receiving critiques.
This year I attended a pre-conference workshop, 9 am-4 pm on Thursday before the Conference started. From the 4 options available I chose ‘Drawing on Emotion’ with Mary Whyte. She gave us drawing instruction in the morning and I drew each of the two models.
In the afternoon she guided us through considering how to instruct and pose the models to depict a certain, chosen emotion. Again I drew the two models. She walked around and gave us helpful critiques on our drawings.
The first main event of the Conference on Thursday evening was the ‘Face-Off’, where 18 artists paint or sculpt 6 models, 3 artists to each model. Attendees could walk around and watch the portraits in progress—all very different approaches!
I also enjoyed two breakout sessions, several main stage demos and talks, the Gala Banquet, and the talks with artists who were the finalists in the International Competition. A highlight for me, as last year, were the lunch time Critique Sessions. I showed my portfolio to six different artists and received very helpful advice.
All in all it was a wonderful four days of learning and inspiration!
Composition 4
8 x 10 ins, oil on canvas board
This painting was painted from 3a, the lower half of the sketch book page. I liked the lower left Notan the best and so used that for my guide. I used palette knives again throughout this one, as for Composition 3.
Composition 2
8 x 10 ins, oil on canvas board
The painting above was developed from the thumbnails on the bottom half of the sketchbook page, 2c. I have the 3-value sketch on the left and then four Notan possibilities to the right. I chose the lower left one from which to paint.
I think that this time I kept to the value pattern more accurately, but I lost it a bit at the left end of the tree line—the values of sky/trees/field become too similar there. I like these colors better than my Composition I painting.
Yellow Roses
Yellow Roses, 11 x 14, Oil
After I enjoyed the lesson by Kelli Folsom so much (Terracotta Pot with Grapes, that I painted with my sister), I bought her Masterclass on painting roses. The first lesson was black and white studies of roses structure and form and the second lesson was on colors for roses.
This painting is from the third lesson. It included instruction on still life set-up, composition and colors. Kelli has such a warm, friendly and encouraging manner that it is a pleasure to listen to her, and her information is always useful. I loved doing this lesson!
Master Copy III
A copy of part of a portrait painting by Philip de Laszlo of the Princess Elizabeth, oil, 12 x 12 ins.
I painted this Master copy earlier this year, in a lesson with my teacher, Kari Rajkumar. I chose the portrait out of several she showed me because of my Britishness and my interest in painting children.
There are so many lovely colors in her skin! I really enjoyed trying to match them. I have focused since on understanding the warm and cool colors in skin, and I think I’ve gained some ground.
Plein Air in PA III
Oil on canvas panel, 9 x 12 ins
Our third Plein Air class was in the middle of very quiet Amish countryside, near New Wilmington, PA. The three of us stood within in a fairly small area but all chose different views, so came away with three totally different paintings.
I liked these big trees overshadowing the farmhouse buildings, with the big barn a little closer to me. There were numerous Amish buggies coming and going, and horses being used to plow the fields, so almost the only noise was of horses’ hooves. Altogether a very peaceful three hours of painting.
marymayhewart 