Painting like Alice Neel

Lendy and I met this evening and painted little studies in preparation for the upcoming workshop Paint like Alice Neel. We had League model/instructor Mark MacKenzie dress up in a suit and tie, and sat him in my new (old) green chair. It’s shabby and low to the ground, so he looked angular and awkward, yet somehow strangely natural and at ease, like her models do. The session was casual, and Mark moved and chatted with us. It was much more social than a typical painting session. Everything had more room to move around, be interesting, be fun, and be human.

Alice painted with her children running around. Perhaps there’s something to this.

We started with blank white canvas like she does, then painted swerving outlines in blue and black. Eyes were painted slightly out of alignment, and different from each other. Colors were put in quickly, in bold patches, with green in the skin, and white canvas showing in between the section. I used semi-random colors, four tubes pulled out of a box, and I made them work. Lendy went wild with her sketch, and made fantastic shapes in abstract, squiggled fingers. I remember a quote from Neel that her favorite thing was to divide the canvas. So fun! It was incredibly freeing, letting go of the perfection, putting the paint on so playfully. Next time I’ll have a bigger canvas. This was way too small for how I wanted to play. I couldn’t fit in the full figure, I got too excited.

As a painting style, painting like Alice Neel taught me more about being confident, not fussing, and even that it’s fabulous to be crooked and wonky. I drew the hands twice, actually. The first time they were too proportional, and Lendy pointed out that Alice painted hands disproportionately large. It’s true! What a fun effect! So much of the playfulness gets taught out of us, the interesting bypassed by the perfection. I had a painting friend who used to say “Better is the enemy of good.” Yes, of course I don’t have to paint it in proportion. Next time I’ll paint the hands even bigger! And add more squiggled angles and bright colors! And I don’t have to make the eyes level either. In fact, the more wonky the painting is, the more interesting it gets. I was much more loose than I’ve been lately, but I’d like to take another run at it. I think I can play with this a lot more.

Want to join Lendy and me and paint like Alice Neel? Register today! The workshop starts this Saturday.

“Painting like Alice Neel was fucking fun. It was also freeing. It is realism without the expectation of perfection.  It made me bold.” – Lendy Hensley [nectar_image_comparison image_url=”13537″ image_2_url=”13538 Lendy Hensley, After Alice Neel, oil on canvas [nectar_image_comparison image_url=”13531″ image_2_url=”13530 Ruthie V, After Alice Neel, oil on canvas