LOCATION NOTE: This class will be taking place at our South Lake Union Location.

In this hands-on 10 week class, we will learn how to paint the human head in oils using an ""alla prima"" approach. We will spend our first 4 weeks becoming acquainted with the key concepts, techniques, and practices of oil painting through the execution of selected master studies. This will allow us to focus on the core elements of oil painting while learning from the insights of some of the great artists that came before us. Then, in the remaining 6 weeks of the class, we'll paint from live models, putting into living practice what we've learned in the previous weeks. Painting from live models, and grounded on an understanding of the structural planes of the head and their dynamic relationship to color and value, we will learn how to paint portraits that are structurally solid yet painterly, loose, and expressive. Class will include demonstrations, lectures, and plenty of individual feedback. All levels welcome (some drawing experience recommended).
Topics covered include:
- The 5 minute lay-in
- The eye of the painter: dynamic vision vs. tunnel vision
- The planes of the head from the point of view of value
- The planes of the head from the point of view of color
- The global light effect
- Color theory and color dynamics: color-value and color-direction
- The importance of value and color relationships
- Color fields
- Value Compression and Color Shifts
- Massing vs. Describing
- How to loosen up