Students will learn a well paced, adaptive methodology toward painting the human figure as both an investigation into its form, and as a pictorial idea. With 6 weeks, students will have adequate time to develop their painting towards a formal resolution, the instructor working alongside students and demonstrating each stage of the process, covering the conceptual and the procedural.
Ideal students for the course are those who have some experience drawing and painting the figure from life and are looking to push their skills to the next level to bring their pieces to a higher degree of investigation and finish. If you feel new to drawing or painting from life I would suggest taking a few life drawing classes before jumping into this course.
Materials List
- Palette (wood is preferred. glass acceptable. NO palette paper.)
- Solvent (odorless mineral spirits only)
- Brush washer (any jar with a sealable lid for your mineral spirits.)
- Paper towels, Home Depot blue shop towels are highly recommended.
- Palette knife
- Stand oil, Gamblin brand recommended.
- Artist’s Retouching Varnish, Grumbacher brand recommended.
- Brushes: 2 bristle filberts each in sizes 4,3,2,1. Silver Grand Prix, and Blick master stroke recommended.
Substrate: 1 canvas or gesso board toned neutral gray, and a corresponding smaller canvas of the same ratio for the first day’s color study.
Oil Colors: Artist grade paint required
- Titanium White or lead white (cremnitz, flake etc. NO zinc)
- Raw Umber
- Burnt Umber
- Burnt Sienna
- Alizarin Crimson
- Cadmium Red
- Cadmium Orange
- Cadmium Yellow
- Raw Sienna
- Viridian and/or Chromium Oxide Green
- Ultramarine Blue
- Ivory Black
Canvas Toning Procedure: Take Meininger’s neutral gray acrylic paint and squeeze about a heaping tablespoon of paint into a mixing bowl. Stir in some water and thin until you get the consistency of melted ice cream. Take a wide chip house painting brush to scrub this mixture onto your canvas. Once covered, carefully drag the brush from one end of the canvas to another to make even, parallel strokes. Let dry.
