Two painted portraits: one a dog, the other a cat.

Pet Portraits in Oil

Weekend Workshop | Available

2107 Westlake Ave Seattle, WA 98121 United States
Drawing and Painting Studio #107
All Levels
5/31/2025-6/1/2025
9:30 AM-12:30 PM PST on Sun Sat
$186.00
$167.40

Pet Portraits in Oil

Weekend Workshop | Available

In this workshop, students will paint a single animal portrait in oil paint from an image of their choice. 

The following topics will be emphasized: 
• Choosing good reference to work from
• Composition
• Drawing accurately
• Capturing a sense of light
• Creating texture with oil paint
• Painting fur
• How to finish a painting 

All experience levels welcome - this class will cover the basics of painting in oils.

Instruction Medium: Oil Paint

  • ARTIST GRADE OIL PAINTS (e.g Gamblin, Utrecht, Winsor & Newton, Rembrandt):
    - Titanium White
    - Cadmium Yellow Light or Hansa Yellow Light
    - Scarlet Lake/Napthol Red/Permanent Red or Cadmium Red
    - Burnt Sienna - Alizarin Permanent
    - Ultramarine Blue or Cobalt Blue
    - Ivory Black
    - Dioxazine Purple (optional)

    SURFACE (choose 1 from below):
    - One 5x7”, 6x8”, or 8x10” canvas panel
    - primed panel such as Ampersand Gessobord
    - Centurion linen panel

    OTHER MATERIALS:
    - Gamblin Gamsol
    - Brush washer for Gamsol
    - Palette or palette paper (Grey Matters 9x12” paper is a good option)
    - Linseed oil - Small container or jar or palette cup for linseed oil
    - Palette knife
    - Two sticks of medium vine charcoal
    - One charcoal pencil (e.g General's HB or 2B)
    - One sheet of heavyweight paper or canvas pad
    - One roll of paper towels

    BRUSHES:
    - Any long handled brushes you already have
    - it would also be good to bring a small size 0 or size 1 round brush.

    If you’re looking to buy brushes, a good starting set would be a mixture of rounds and filberts (sizes 4 to 8) of Blick Scholastic Wonder White Synthetic or Utrecht Manglon Synthetic brushes, as well a bristle brush such as Robert Simmons Signet size 8.
    If the surface you’re painting on is heavily textured (such as a canvas panel with a rough weave) I would recommend bringing more bristle brushes.

    IMAGE:
    - One image of an animal you’d like to paint, printed or on a tablet.

    We will go over in class more what makes a good reference, but generally the process will be easier if the image has clear lighting (the light is coming from an identifiable direction).
      Picture of a brown haired person wearing a dark blue heavy jacket holding a small brown dog.
      Demos Tsellos

      Demos Tsellos is a representational painter based in the Seattle area, specializing in animal portraiture and figurative work. Working primarily in oils, his work aims to capture the attitude and essence of his subject with a strong sense of mood and atmosphere. His little Chihuahua Pico (pictured) is the best studio assistant an artist could ask for.