Luminescent Figures: Painting Light on the Human Form

Luminescent Figures: Painting Light on the Human Form

GG Weeklong Workshop | Available

6520 5th Ave South Seattle, WA 98108 United States
Studio A (Room 125)
All Levels
3/21/2025-3/24/2025
9:30 AM-4:30 PM PST on Sun Mon Fri Sat
$768.00
$691.20

Luminescent Figures: Painting Light on the Human Form

GG Weeklong Workshop | Available

LOCATION NOTE: This class will be taking place at our Georgetown Location.

    Learn time-tested techniques of how to paint form and skin in oil painting. Painting in oils gives the ability to ‘sculpt with the paint’, so that it mimics the way skin pulls over muscle. Oils also offer the capability to make use of translucent glazes and layering of paint, creating a richer and more luminous experience than printed images.

     

    In this workshop we’ll learn the fundamentals of underpainting, overpainting, and glazes & adjustments. We’ll work in tandem in a step by step ‘work-along’ procedure from the same source material. In the process we’ll learn what type of brushes to use and when, how to manage the viscosity of paint to achieve the desired effect, as well as how to effectively ‘tile’ and blend.

     

     

    Here's the breakdown of the schedule:

     

    Day 1

    Tone exercises for canvas so that its dry for Tuesday

    Transfer from printout, and underpainting (portrait)

     

     

    Day 2

    Exercises in Tiling and Blending from the same printed sources (while the underpainting from day 1 dries)

    • Value Squares
    • Value matching exercise, and blending
    • Color matching exercise, and blending strings

     

    Day 3

    Torso painting excercise.

     

    Day 4

    Overpainting/glazing over underpainting from day 1

    • Paints

      Here's what I'll have on my palette. Students don't need to have these exact colors, but having one in each of these categories is important. For example, Yellow Ochre can be used in place of Raw Sienna. The brands listed below aren't crucial, except with the Flemish white. The Flemish White and Oleoresgel (medium) are the two specialty items from Rublev/Natural Pigments. We'll talk about this in class, but the Flemish White is a lead-based paint, so is important to use with good practices; while fumes aren't an issue with it, you don't want to get that paint into your mouth in any way. While I think the Flemish White from NP is the best on the market, if students already have a lead white (such as Cremnitz white or other), that can be used instead. 

      -Cold Black (Williamsburgh specific). You can use other blacks, but this one is particularly dark and will extend your value range a bit.


      -Cobalt Blue (Gamblin)

      -Bohemian Green Earth (Williamsburgh )

      -Raw Umber (Gamblin)

      -Alizarin Crimson.  *note- this color has a lightfast rating of III, so depending on how its used, is susceptible to fading over time. If you are concerned about that, you can get a permanent version, such as Alizarin Permanent or Permanent Carmine as an alternative. Windsor Newton makes the best Alizarin Permanent and Alizarin Carmine in my opinion, but they are pricey, particularly the Alizarin Permanent.

      -Gamblin Cadmium Red light (Gamblin)

      -Raw Sienna (Williamsburgh)

      -Nickel Yellow (Williamsburgh)

      -Flemish White (Rublev/Natural Pigments)

      -Titanium White (Williamsburgh)


      Mediums/Thinners

      - Linseed Oil

      - Oleoresgel

      - Gamsol

      - Small Jar to mix Oleoresgel and Linseed oil together



      Brushes

      Students don't need to have these exact brushes, but here's what I use. Though it should be noted that if they don't have suitable blending brushes (such as the oval mops listed below), it's going to be more difficult during the section of the workshop where we blend paint 'tiles'.

      I use a combination of brush styles. I tend to use bristle brushes as the main workhorses (depending on the size of the painting), synthetics usually for smaller brushes/details as well as glazes, and soft mops and rounds for blending.

      For the synthetics, I usually use Utrecht Manglon brushes, and have two of each of these sizes: 2,4,6, and one of 8.

      For Bristles, I use a variety of brands, mostly filbert shape. DaVinci's Maestro 2 series brushes are great, but a little pricey. Rosemary Brushes (such as the classic filberts style, among others) are also good.

      For blending brushes, again, I have an assortment of them that I've collected over the years. But I'd recommend the Princeton Velvetouch Series 3950 Oval mops, sizes 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4.

      I also have a few small/soft brushes for fine-tuned blending, such as the Princeton Neptune Round, sizes 0,2, & 4.

      Canvas/Linen
      Students will need two 16x20 stretched canvases to work on. 

      I'll be using oil primed linen (Claessens 15 dp), and stretching it over 16x20 stretcher bars for my substrate. There won't be enough time to stretch canvases in class, so students will need to have theirs prepared beforehand. 

      If students don't have oil primed linen, they can use acrylic primed cotton duct canvas if needed. The absorbency will be a little different (and linen is generally nicer), but will still work ok. Premade 16x20 acrylic primed canvases are common at just about any art store.  

      Misc.

      -Ball point pen (for transferring)

      -Artists tape

      -Compressed charcoal sticks/blocks, such as these for transferring
      https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-square-charcoal-sticks-set/

      -Spray Fixative. We typically use the Windsor Newton variety as it isn't as stinky as the others, but should still be used outside.

    Tenaya Sims