Working entirely from a live model across two Saturdays, local artist Vicky Saumarez will teach you the fundamentals of realist portrait painting directly from life. Suitable for intermediate and advanced students, with some knowledge of drawing and painting. You will be working in charcoal and oil paint.

The group is small with only six students and the teaching is tailored to your own experience.

WEEK 1

Charcoal Study - Starting with charcoal drawing, the perfect place to start as it allows you to get to grips with the essential tonal principles:

~ Composition and design of the image

~ Positioning and proportions of the features

~ Use of light & shade to create chiaroscuro

~ Modelling the form using halftones

~ Tips for acheiving a likeness

Monochrome Painting – Also known as grisaille, it bridges the gap between drawing and painting once the essential tonal principles have been mastered in charcoal. You will develop your grisaille painting in oils as the first layer of your coloured painting, setting the tones and shapes in readiness for the full colour layer in week 2.

WEEK 2

Develop your portrait into full colour using a limited palette.

Using the 'Zorn' Palette, named after the 19th Century Swedish painter famous for the amazing variety he got from very few colours. You will be working over your grisaille study so will already have shapes and tones established and you can concentrate on the warm and cool colour mixing.

You'll begin with my demo of colour mixing to develop a good understanding of the relationship between tone and colour and the heat and saturation of each pigment. You will learn:

~ Hot and cold colours and where to use them

~ Methods to accurately see and mix colour

~ Blending and blurring of colour

~ Different ways of handling oil paints from 'alla prima' to glazing

This will be a fun friendly and informative two days. Teas and other refreshments are provided. You will need to bring your own sandwiches for lunch hour and I will provide some hot soup.