In this 5-day workshop, American figurative artist Patricia Watwood will teach the steps she uses in painting a model from life. Watwood is a leading figure in the contemporary classical movement, focusing on the figure, most commonly in the nude. She cleverly uses allegory and mythology against urban settings to unite a classical aesthetic with a modern sensibility.
Students will first focus on strategies for composition, design and creativity, including creating a thumbnail sketch of a single pose. Demos will help master to the subtleties of warm and cool relationships and color in skin tones, while students set up their drawing on the canvas, create an under-painting in a limited palette, and make a detailed finish with a final pass in full color. With the theme of simple strategies used in creating complex figurative artwork, we will explore how props and design can inspire work that is “outside the studio” and limited only by your imagination.

In 2011-2012 St. Louis University Museum of Art, and The Forbes Galleries hosted Watwood’s solo museum exhibit, Patricia Watwood: Myths & Individuals.