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.

Teaching the Figure in OKC

 "Adrian in April"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

$400

Email me to purchase

I just returned from a fantastic workshop at The Conservatory for Classical Art in Oklahoma City. We were doing alla prima figure painting - three days of live models, plenty of paint mixing, and value studies. It all resulted in some gorgeous work by my students!

I'm always so impressed with the drawing skills and dedication shown by the students at the CCA, across a wide range of ages and backgrounds.  

What a great group! I'm already looking forward to my next visit, "Painting the Dynamic Still Life," in October. 

 

And if you're interested in painting the figure with me in Oregon, I have a workshop coming up in June. Email me for details on that!

Figure Painting Workshop Announcement!

 "In the Gray"

16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

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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! 

Alla Prima Portrait Sketch; Limited Palette Workshop Demo

 

 "Sketch of A."

approx 8x11 inches, oil on Arches oil paper

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This month marks two years since my first portrait painting workshop. Amazing how time flies! And although I've painted this model quite a few times, it's always nice to revisit a familiar face - especially one with such lovely coloring. I've got pinks, peaches, greens, lavenders, and orangey-browns in those flesh tones - all mixed from three tubes of paint! 

My work-in-progress shows how I painted the face out beyond the contour lines, and then re-drew that edge with the darks in the hair. I also painted the setting of the eye before putting too much detail into the eye itself. 

And the ear - well, I got that on there early and then left it alone, because this.

Watching the Sun

 "Watching the Sun"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

I had a beautiful Fourth of July, painting a model en plein air at Eugene's big summer arts festival. Longtime readers may remember me doing this before - it's become a yearly tradition that I really look forward to! Here is my post from 2013 - and here is last year's.

My painting with the model, basking in the sun:

My friend Heather joined me this year - it's always fun to have company - and someone to help you wrestle around with your umbrella in the wind!

Here's my work-in-progress. I had to get that face in first! You can see me starting to test out my color mixes by smearing them on with a palette knife, over her left shoulder:

Her Thoughts Elsewhere

 "Her Thoughts Elsewhere"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

I've been painting this model, Miranda, for many years now. In fact, she was the first model I ever painted in Eugene - my first nude model since the MICA years. I never posted that painting online. When I made it, I wasn't even sure that figure painting was going to be a real part of my "work." 

Well, it was.

And in the name of see-how-far-I've-come, I'm finally going to post it:

"Seated Nude, Red"

16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

January, 2011

Funnily, these are the only two unsold paintings of Miranda that I have: the first one and the most recent. 

 Here's a work-in-progress on the new one:

Limited Palette Portrait Painting

 "Beth"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

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 This is my two-hour demo from Limited Palette Portrait, which I taught right here in Eugene over the weekend. Below is the progression - I tried to snap a picture at each model break, so every 30 minutes. It went through an ugly stage just before the end, eh? 

 

The limited palette we use in this class is also called the Zorn palette - cadmium red, yellow ocher, and ivory black - plus white. We started the weekend with a simple color chart. 

As one of my students recently described it - the difference between just mixing up the colors on your palette, and actually painting them on the chart is like the difference between driving through a neighborhood and walking through it. I love that analogy! 

 

If you'd like to try walking through this neighborhood yourself, you can find my color chart template here.

Two intense days of painting for my students! I saw a ton of progress in a short time - their work speaks for itself!

A Lovely Evening for a Portrait Demonstration

"Robin"

12x16 inches, oil on canvas

I love painting in front of an audience. I just searched my blog post history and turned up about ten instances of me painting out-and-about somewhere and gushing about it. Am I a show-off, or what?

In the last few years, I've painted for audiences at a gallery, a hotel, an art society, a conservatory, an art supply store (or two), and a church - oh and another gallery. 

Last week, I visited Shreveport, Louisiana, to teach for the third time. The evening before the workshop, I gave a portrait painting demonstration. The best part was that my subject was the teacher who organizes all of my workshops there. Her students loved watching her suffer under the pressure of my unflinching gaze.

...or maybe they were just enjoying the wine and good company!

 

Regardless, it was a blast. And check out that room! We were lucky enough to be hosted for the whole weekend by The Artist's Collective, a new gallery in Shreveport. Great spot for an art gathering, perfect place for my workshop.

 

 (The aforementioned unflinching gaze, in action)

(Another) Nude With Silver Rings

 "Nude With Silver Rings no. 2"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Number one can be seen here. Kind of a similar painting - if not a similar model!  

I'm happy with this one - and I'm not making any apologies about the mouth. This guy has a mustache. It's large. It's anachronistic. So I indicated it loosely, and I leave you with this quote from my favorite painter of all time: 

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!

La Belle Muse

"Belle"

12 x 24 inches, oil on canvas

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I painted this with....you guessed it! The Zorn palette. Which I believe I will henceforth be calling the Sedwick palette. No, just kidding. 

Cadmium red, yellow ocher, and ivory black - look how beautiful!

I'll be teaching a workshop on this method of figure painting May 28th and 29th, in Eugene. There will also be a two-hour demo on Friday evening, which is free for workshop students, but anyone can attend.  Details on that can be found here.

Saying Goodbye to a Model

 

 "Yellow Becca"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Becca is a great model, who I've painted many times. In fact, I counted - and I've painted her 21 times over the past five years!

 

Here are my some of my favorites:

 It's an incredible experience to paint someone multiple times - as they age, as you age....as your style changes, as they get more and more tattoos.... :)

Becca is moving away from Eugene, so this may be the last time I get to paint her - at least for a while. 

Thank you, Becca! 

Looking Left

"Looking Left"

14 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Available here

A new figure painting, from life, using a fairly limited palette - mostly burnt sienna, yellow ocher, alizarin crimson, cobalt blue, and white. The last time I painted this model, Hannah, was about a year ago.

Here is a work-in-progress photo. The color looks really different from picture to picture - that's caused by taking them in different lighting situations. The final photo is closest to the actual colors of the painting.