Portrait Painting in Layers

Portrait Painting in Layers

Workshop | This program is completed

All Levels

4/6/2021-4/9/2021

9:00 AM-4:00 PM on Tue Wed Th Fri

$750.00

$60.00

Capturing a likeness is among the most elusive yet emotionally satisfying of artistic endeavors and a good drawing is undoubtedly the most critical component in achieving a good result. In this four-day workshop Joshua will walk students through the steps necessary to create a luminous, indirect portrait painting from life, beginning with a drawing in graphite and white chalk. Demonstration and critiques will center around the principles of form and how to understand and achieve the illusion of three-dimensions. By better understanding the importance of form the student will gain new insight into values, structure, expression and indeed, color.

Each morning session will begin with a thorough portrait demonstration from the model including a dialogue of all key concepts, while the afternoon will focus on personal critiques as you create your own painting. We will progress each day, working on the same pose, through a clear method which you will be able to easily apply to your own work. Joshua will be teaching the the indirect approach to oil painting which is distinct from the Alla Prima, or wet-in-wet, method in that it is done in layers and can therefore achieve wonderful and subtle effects by the use of semi-transparent veils of paint. www.joshualarock.com

LaRock, Joshua

B. 1982 in Austin, TX; currently lives in New York, NY Joshua LaRock is quickly becoming a sought after and much-admired Classical Realist. After receiving a baccalaureate degree in Music Business at The University of Colorado, Denver in 2005, LaRock found himself compelled to explore a completely different vocation as an artist in the realm of classical painting. It was a resolute and challenging decision that led him to the Water Street Atelier, where he received tutelage from Jacob Collins. Being in New York, studying with Collins, and acquiring masterful draughtsmanship at an astonishing rate is proving to be fruitful for LaRock, and his work feels more of a mid-career artist than an emerging painter. LaRock's works are almost an ode to the past while being filtered through his life, his point of reference. This makes his emotive portraits memorable and potent and gives his narrative pieces an eerily contemporary attitude. Even when referencing Bouguereau or using a pastoral theme, LaRock imbues a shade of the contemporaneous, drawing the viewer deeper into his world. His still life paintings almost pop off the canvas and give new reverie to the ordinary. Each work is tightly rendered and thoughtfully composed; this is in stark contrast to LaRock's en plein air landscapes, which are soft touches of color carefully recording a specific moment or truth in nature. In 2012 LaRock’s portrait submission of his wife, Laura was hailed as ‘deserving special attention’ during the historic America China Oil Painting Artists League (ACOPAL) exhibit at the Beijing World Art Museum. Reproductions of “Laura” quickly became the best selling souvenir throughout the extent of the Chinese tour. Since his Chinese debut, LaRock has been commissioned to paint portraits of many distinguished Chinese personalities including Mrs. Wang Limei, Director of the Beijing World Art Museum, Mr. Brian Lu, Vice President and General Manager of Apple Inc. in greater China, Actress Zhou Zhi