Painting the Figure Dynamically

August 23-24, 10AM-3:30PM Painting the figure can be a dynamic experience. Whether sitting, standing, or in motion, the challenge of figurative painting is not only how to render a lifelike representation of your subject, but also how to capture and create that sense of dynamism.The most important aspect of this is making your piece interactive. It is a mistake to think of art as only a passive viewing activity. It can be, but through emphasizing areas of focus, directional lines, contrast, and more an artist can direct the viewer’s eye and create a more engaging experience. This workshop includes practical rendering tips on how to paint the figure, while tapping into the intuitive side of painting in order to create a more meaningful experience for your viewer and for the artist. Day 1: We will be working from photo references provided by the teacher. We will focus on several different exercises and quick paintings using different techniques in the background and within the figure to create motion, mood, and energy. The student will then take another reference (provided by the teacher) for a more developed painting in the second part of the day. Day 2: We will work from a live model. We will do two quick studies in order to begin tapping into the instinctual side of painting. The limited time is intended to force the student into immediately reacting to the subject and overriding any type of over analysis of the figure. It’s also a great way of warming up. The remaining part of the class will work on one painting of a long pose. Materials: In this workshop we will be using mainly the Zorn palette in order to concentrate on the aspects of dynamic painting, but there is one color I’ve included to be used in an exercise. Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cad Red Light, Ivory Black, Ultramarine Blue (we’ll be using this for one of the exercises) Brushes If you have preferred brushes, use those. There are two brushes that you have to use for some of the exercise: Fan Brush size 6, Flat Brush (synthetic hairs) size 8 Other Material Palette knives: just a couple for mixing paint, but we will be using one for painting Palette Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits or turpenoid in enclosed container Walnut oil or linseed oil Day 1: 2 18”x24” pieces of loose canvas or canvas board (we will segment this into 4 quadrants) 1 12”x16” - 18”x24” surface (for more developed piece) Day 2: 2 12”x16” surface (for the quick studies),1 12”x16” - 18”x24” surface (for long pose)