Teaching Figure Painting with Zorn

 

 "Kendra"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

Workshop Demonstration

Price on Request

I taught "Beginning Figure Painting" on my home turf this past weekend, at Whiteaker Printmakers in Eugene. It was an enthusiastic, talented group, and I thoroughly enjoyed painting with them!  

Can you spot me in this picture?

 

We started out with gesture drawings, mixed flesh tones using the Zorn palette, and they painted these lovely pieces - all in two days!

 Here's my color chart, and two little demos - same pose, different lighting, four values.

If you're interested in trying this limited palette technique, I've got two portrait workshops coming up - one this weekend, November 11-12 at Sequioa Gallery + Studios in the Portland, OR area (spaces are still available), and the other in Eugene, at Oregon Art Supply, January 6-7. 

Live models, and lots of painting! Click the links for details.

Figure Painting Workshop Announcement!

 "In the Gray"

16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

I'm taking a break from my slew of Playa residency blog posts to let you all know about a master class workshop I'll be teaching next month at the Conservatory for Classical Art in Edmond, Oklahoma.

It's called "The Alla Prima Figure." Three days of painting from live models, demos, and lots of talk about mixing gorgeous flesh tones. There are several spaces still available, so if you - or someone you know - are in the Oklahoma City area, please consider joining us! 

More information, and online registration here.

 This will be my fourth visit to the CCA. I love the energy there, and am really looking forward to it! 

Here I am demonstrating for a class last year:

 ...And another limited palette figure painting - done in one sitting, about three hours. Alla prima! 

Figure Sketching in Oils

 

 "Study of A, Seated"

12 x 24 inches, oil on canvas

$200, free shipping in the USA

Available here

Technically, I suppose this painting is unfinished, though I consider it fully realized as an oil sketch or figure study. It's like a drawing in paint! My underpainting and process are revealed in the lower portion of the canvas and in the background, though the figure is nearly complete. Everything except the fussing and overworking! 

Here it is in the beginning stages:

This painting is being offered as part of my year-end Etsy clearance sale. Many pieces are available, some as low as $50. Check it out! 

Teaching The Figure

 "Nude with a Pear"

11 x 14 inches, oil on canvas

workshop demo price: $200

Available here

My Limited Palette Figure Painting workshop happened last weekend, here in Eugene. This was kind of a trial run for me - I've taught portrait several times, but never the nude figure - and I can humbly report that it went very well!  

On Friday evening I did a demo, which was open to the public. A few students of mine from other classes and private lessons joined the workshop attendees to watch.

The next morning, we started off with 4-value paintings. Two light flesh tones, and two dark ones to model the whole form. See? It can be done! And it's a great way to start a painting by working from the general (large shapes of value) to the specific (small anatomical details).

My demo of the 4-value exercise. 9x12" oil on Arches oil paper

Here is the progression of my demo from the second day. I can hear you thinking, 'All these demos, when did the students have time to paint?' They didn't watch the whole time - I just used this piece to demonstrate certain phases of the process. 

Believe me, much painting was done by my students.... 

Incredible painting!

 

I have two more workshops just like this one still to come in 2016 - one in September in Malibu, CA, and one in December in Eugene. Join me!

"Dark Gaze" A Zorn Palette Nude

 "Dark Gaze"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Summer is coming to an end, and Tuesday night figure painting sessions at Maude Kerns Art Center are back! Anyone can attend: 6-9 pm, drop-in fee of $11. We've got a great group of artists, and plenty of room for more. All media welcome.

My First Pregnant Model

"Radiance"

18 x 14 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

 

 I've wanted to paint a pregnant model ever since I fell in love with Alice Neel's work, back in college. I don't really paint like Neel, but I'm inspired by the frankness with which she sees her subjects - and the fearlessness of her paint handling. She obviously had zero fear of a blank canvas!

I've painted this woman many times, but this is the first time during her pregnancy. It's true what they say - and I witnessed this in myself when I was pregnant - there's a radiance that comes with the territory. I hope I captured just a little of it.

Figure Painting, Figure Drawing

 "Maya, Nude"

14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Here is my figure painting from Tuesday night - my first time painting this lovely model. She'll also be modelling for my Zorn Palette Portrait workshop, which begins tomorrow. I know the students will love her calm, serious face as much as I did.

This will be my second time teaching Zorn Palette at Oregon Art Supply. (Here's my post about September's session.) I'm hoping to do it again in January, and the workshop is limited to five students - so if you think you'd like to join me, call today to reserve a spot! 541-683-2787.

 In other news: my sketchbook got some action this week! (Must be a full moon or something). Here's a 20 minute drawing:

 

Lying Awake

 "Lying Awake"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Click to buy

Here's another painting of this lovely model. It's intimidating to paint a face sideways, so I just treated it like I'd treat any scary subject: as shapes, colors, and values, rather than as a face (or a glass bottle, folds of cloth, water....)

Mirror, Mirror

 "Reflection"

20 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

I worked on this painting from a live model for two three-hour sessions, and then beat my head against the wall tweaked it for another whole day in the studio with a photo before calling it finished.  I do not like working back into dry paintings - which I had to do on this one, since the model sessions were a week apart. I also do not like working from photos/memory, which I had to do in order to finish the head. Oh well. I was willing to suffer these discomforts because I liked what I was seeing emerge. If it weren't for those stripes, and the mirrored reflection I would have thrown up my hands and wiped it.

Becoming too attached to one lovely passage of a painting-in-progress can lead to over-preciousness, anxiety, and continued commitment to works that should be given up as lost causes. I hope to present this as an example of an attachment to several small details that made me persevere when otherwise I might have thrown in the towel prematurely.

And, for better or worse, this painting is finished now. Here's a progression: the first two images from the initial model session, and the second two from the following week.