Portrait Classes

Our classroom, very bright and airy, with good lighting

   I must say I am really enjoying the classes. Lalita is a fantastic, upbeat, wonderful person; just being around her makes everyone feel better, more positive. The class is small. The information is extremely well presented, and hand-outs are provided. We even get "homework"! So it's three hours every morning,  Monday to Thursday for two weeks. My brain "feels full" after each session.
   I took the portrait of Dr. Wong to class yesterday. Lalita liked it, and said it expressed my description of the model. Her only suggestion was to darken three points around the face, to increase focus to the face. I have done so, and the result is below.
 

Three spots darkened

Another view of the classroom

We're working on portraits in "pieces" - head shape and proportions, eyes, ears, mouth ...

Lalita, helping me to define the portrait I would like to paint 

My set-up

Lalita, with another student [Betty]

Looking Forward to Monday ...

1st quick sketch

More depth

Loose washes, eyes and glasses masked 

Crawling along

Still crawling along

Mask removed, start eyes

   I finished the sketch about a week ago, put it on Arches 140 lb. CP, and started painting. If left to my own devices, I paint very slowly, using thin glazes; most of the time I get where I want to be but .... SLOWLY. I have just lately trained myself to always use the largest possible brush. So I am really looking forward to a portrait class offered by Lalita Hamill of the Federation of Canadian Artists. She is an absolutely delightful young woman, and a great artist. I took one of her classes years ago.

   There are a few things I am hoping to gain from the course. I would dearly love to create much more emotional depth in my painting. I would like to paint faster, and looser at times, be less tentative. And I would like to improve my compositional skills. I'm sure there's more, but those are the big ones.

  So I will leave you all for now, and probably post late Monday, after the class. I thank you for dropping by.