A Beginning Portrait Class at The Armory Arts & Events Center in Napoleon

I taught a brief workshop on portrait painting last Sunday at The Armory Arts & Events Center in Napoleon, Ohio. We started out sketching front and side views using Andrew Loomis' well-known techniques for creating a 'normal' face. Of course everyone varies form normal somewhat- that's what makes us all unique individuals.

After a bit of drawing practice we moved right into painting and I chose an American Indian as our subject. The photo reference was black and white, which simplified the values. Their skin tones are more even than Caucasians and (I think), easier to mix. Using a simple recipe of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and titanium white, we were able to come up with a pretty wide variety of tones. Throwing in a bit of cadmium red easily warmed the mixtures where needed.

Napoleon Barn

We painted this Napoleon landmark at The Armory Arts & Event Center Thursday night. Will probably have another class in two or three weeks. PM me if you are interested. I demo as we paint and finished up the edges on this on tonight. I love the teal color of this building and the hot peach roof- just a gorgeous scenic barn. I'm hoping to do a plein air of it on location this summer. 

11x14 oil on canvas

Tuesday Painting Class

These painters are finally getting gutsy and loading up their brushes with paint- and that makes all the difference! This week we painted a landscape with a beautiful peach colored sky. It had a split complementary color scheme so it was a bit more complicated than anything we've done before, but everyone handled it pretty well. Keep in mind that this is class number six for many of them, but also there are a couple of first time painters here.

ARMORY SHOW - December 2015

The Opening Reception is Sunday Dec. 6, 2015 at The Armory, 127 E. Clinton St., Napoleon, Ohio. The show will run through January 3, 2016. This show is sponsored by the Henry County Arts Council. Please stop in and take a look if you're in the area. Hours are 10 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday.