PAINTING THE PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTO

While it is preferable to paint from life, the realities of our modern, busy world make working from photographs a necessity. If you want to learn, or learn more, about how to achieve an accurate likeness with personality and expression using photos for reference this workshop is for you,

THIS THREE DAY WORKSHOP WILL COVER:

COMPOSING THE PICTURE: choosing your photo (including how to take a good photo for a portrait), sizing, cropping, interesting versus boring, and deciding on background

DRAWING: using the grid method, the two most common mistakes in drawing and painting the portrait, creating a value study.

PAINTING: the color palette, mixing skin tones, creating dimension, painting the eyes, mouth, nose, ears, hair and background

THE FIRST DAY will consist of lecture and demo. On the second day you will draw your subject and create a value study of the three main values. The final day will be spent painting the portrait and you will leave with a finished (or at least well begun) portrait.

THE WORKSHOP will be held in Lacombe, Louisiana (north of New Orleans) on March 25-27, 2010. The cost is $200 per person. For registration information email Barbara Shaw at Barbara@BarbaraShawArt.com

After studying Fine Art in college, Carolyn Finnell worked as a fashion illustrator for more that 20 years. Her portraits have been shown and won awards in National juried art shows.