[image_with_animation image_url=”8694″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] This spring, my Friday nights are going to be in an Unconventional Portraits class. These Friday night classes have become my night to do whatever I think would be the most fun thing to do. This quarter I got most excited thinking about Unconventional Portraits.
This is not a realist class with look-a-like portraiture. It’s a series of creative ideas and experiments; a mix of unexpected drawing and painting techniques intended to produce unconventional results. We will look at unconventional portraits made by other artists, and be have a wide variety of stylistic inspirations for our work. Focus will be on manipulating source materials, and on using mediums and surfaces that allow for and encourage those not-so-accidental happy accidents. We will work from a combination of self portraits, photographs, and live models.
This unconventional portraits class lets students choose their own level of difficulty: brave beginners are invited to draw using forgiving materials such as graphite, ink, and charcoal. Intermediate students are invited to draw or paint with their chosen mediums (oil, watercolor, ink, & acrylic).
Thursdays are vocabulary day in our 30 day challenge. Our inspiration is actually two words: smatchet / menge, both from A.Word.A.Day with the incredible wordsmith Anu Garg. smatchet PRONUNCIATION: (SMACH-uht) MEANING: noun: An insignificant contemptible person.ETYMOLOGY: Of Scottish origin. Earliest documented use: 1582.USAGE: “Again he wondered how Mieka could be such an infuriating, impossible little …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9597″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] For this unfinished painting, the artist did not die. The sitter did. [image_with_animation image_url=”9598″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] In 1945, Elizabeth Shoumatoff was commissioned to paint a portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. At noon on April 12, Shaumatoff began her work. That afternoon Roosevelt said, “I have a terrific …
This post is an example of it’s own point about how art is changed by frequency, constant inflow, and connectivity. I’m putting this blog post out before the ink dries, without fact checking, thoughts still unresolved. I’ve that itch that says I didn’t finish getting the gunk out of the wrinkles in my own ideas. But I’m publishing …
[image_with_animation image_url=”8601″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Qi Baishi (1864–1957) was one of the most beloved contemporary Chinese watercolor painters. His original name is Huang but he went by Baishi (“white stone”) as a pseudonym. Some of Qi’s major influences include the Ming dynasty artist Xu Wei (徐渭) and the early Qing dynasty painter Zhu Da (朱耷). His favorite …
Unconventional Portraits
[image_with_animation image_url=”8694″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] This spring, my Friday nights are going to be in an Unconventional Portraits class. These Friday night classes have become my night to do whatever I think would be the most fun thing to do. This quarter I got most excited thinking about Unconventional Portraits.
This is not a realist class with look-a-like portraiture. It’s a series of creative ideas and experiments; a mix of unexpected drawing and painting techniques intended to produce unconventional results. We will look at unconventional portraits made by other artists, and be have a wide variety of stylistic inspirations for our work. Focus will be on manipulating source materials, and on using mediums and surfaces that allow for and encourage those not-so-accidental happy accidents. We will work from a combination of self portraits, photographs, and live models.
This unconventional portraits class lets students choose their own level of difficulty: brave beginners are invited to draw using forgiving materials such as graphite, ink, and charcoal. Intermediate students are invited to draw or paint with their chosen mediums (oil, watercolor, ink, & acrylic).
Click here to learn more about my Unconventional Portraits Class.
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Thursdays are vocabulary day in our 30 day challenge. Our inspiration is actually two words: smatchet / menge, both from A.Word.A.Day with the incredible wordsmith Anu Garg. smatchet PRONUNCIATION: (SMACH-uht) MEANING: noun: An insignificant contemptible person.ETYMOLOGY: Of Scottish origin. Earliest documented use: 1582.USAGE: “Again he wondered how Mieka could be such an infuriating, impossible little …
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[image_with_animation image_url=”9597″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] For this unfinished painting, the artist did not die. The sitter did. [image_with_animation image_url=”9598″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] In 1945, Elizabeth Shoumatoff was commissioned to paint a portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. At noon on April 12, Shaumatoff began her work. That afternoon Roosevelt said, “I have a terrific …
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This post is an example of it’s own point about how art is changed by frequency, constant inflow, and connectivity. I’m putting this blog post out before the ink dries, without fact checking, thoughts still unresolved. I’ve that itch that says I didn’t finish getting the gunk out of the wrinkles in my own ideas. But I’m publishing …
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[image_with_animation image_url=”8601″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Qi Baishi (1864–1957) was one of the most beloved contemporary Chinese watercolor painters. His original name is Huang but he went by Baishi (“white stone”) as a pseudonym. Some of Qi’s major influences include the Ming dynasty artist Xu Wei (徐渭) and the early Qing dynasty painter Zhu Da (朱耷). His favorite …