Alla Prima Portrait Painting

This class will focus on the fundamental principles and techniques of painting the head from life.

This class will focus on the fundamental principles and techniques of painting the head from life. No prior experience is required as we will cover everything from the basic uses of materials and paint handling to the biggest concepts behind learning to see and work from life. The great masters never stopped returning to these foundational principles of drawing, value, edge, and color. We will study and practice how these ideas can help us build the skills to paint better portraits. We will learn how to pose and light our subject, and work efficiently at achieving the effect of our model in the limited time provided by alla prima portrait painting

Material Requirements:

In order to keep costs down for students we provide all of the oil paint and brushes you will need for this session.

To prevent any toxic solvents – we will provide odorless mineral spirits and a glass coil jar for cleaning – for all students. We will also provide a disposable grey paper palette for everyone. We have paper towels for you to us as well. 

You will need to bring:

PANELS 3-4 panels anywhere from 9×12 to 16×20. I like Fredrix panels the best. Blick panels are also good. I don’t like panels that are too slick, but anything you are comfortable with is great! I would like for you to tone your canvases, anything in the middle value gray-blue-green family.

Important:

We are a screen-free environment.

• Students are expected to focus on their work for the duration of the session. We play low classical music during class.
• Discussions of student work with the teacher take place during class. 
• Gender neutral restrooms are located near our room. 
• Our room has a security camera for everyone’s safety.