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
[image_with_animation image_url=”7736″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Piet Mondrian The first part of this challenge was to draw a tree from observation. The second was to draw the same tree, editing to emphasize the patterns within the branches. Today, draw the same tree again, editing even more. Look at the spaces between the branches, remove the …
Thank you to Claire Putney for introducing us to the work of Matthew Cusick. [image_with_animation image_url=”5955″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Matthew Cusick “Cusick uses atlases for his powerful collages, uniting pieces of the landscape that are actually quite far apart to create his own new world. Armed with scissors and a craft knife, the artist …
Exercise your creativity This SAL Challenge is a vocabulary based creative challenge every day for January. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, sculpt your food, anything you want. See below for today’s creative challenge. Set the timer for 20 minutes and see what happens. UGGLE An old Scots dialect word meaning …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9378″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Preparing for my mini workshop “Paint like Cezanne,” I ran across this work by Joel Meyerowitz, a photographer who documented still life objects of famous painters, particularly Cezanne and Morandi. Meyerowitz’ photographs are handsome recordings of plain yet interesting objects. Unlike the painters who assemble compositions, Meyerowitz framed each …
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
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