This is Dave, our model. He was awesome. Could hold a pose for an hour without moving or needing a break. You rarely had to correct his pose when he returned. He's a poet and hiker. Poor guy had to wear the same shirt for three days straight.
Jeff began the day with a demo. He has a rather simple palette and uses no medium. He began putting down the lightest lights. He says one of the most important things to do is SQUINT, simplifying the masses and shapes and averaging out the value and color. Forget detail at this point. It's all about seeing relationships between abstract shape and value.
Jeff continued to squint and lay down more of the first layer. I'm amazed at his ability to accurately see and measure. He warned us to be wary of simultaneous contrast with both colors and values. He loads his paint and rarely makes more than three strokes before returning to his palette. He challenged us to avoid allowing the brush to touch the canvas, using the paint as a barrier. He used transparent colors in the shadows and opaque in the lights.
Here is 90 minutes worth of work. Lunch time and then....we get to try. Send in the clowns......
You can't imagine how intimidating this technique is for me. No under painting or any type of drawing. Simply applying the paint with a sure stroke while asking these 4 things: What is the 1. value; 2. color; 3.location and 4. temperature. After 3 and 1/2 hours, this was my portrait. Poor Dave. No ears or cranium or hair. On to the next day.....
This is Dave, our model. He was awesome. Could hold a pose for an hour without moving or needing a break. You rarely had to correct his pose when he returned. He's a poet and hiker. Poor guy had to wear the same shirt for three days straight.
Jeff began the day with a demo. He has a rather simple palette and uses no medium. He began putting down the lightest lights. He says one of the most important things to do is SQUINT, simplifying the masses and shapes and averaging out the value and color. Forget detail at this point. It's all about seeing relationships between abstract shape and value.
Jeff continued to squint and lay down more of the first layer. I'm amazed at his ability to accurately see and measure. He warned us to be wary of simultaneous contrast with both colors and values. He loads his paint and rarely makes more than three strokes before returning to his palette. He challenged us to avoid allowing the brush to touch the canvas, using the paint as a barrier. He used transparent colors in the shadows and opaque in the lights.
Here is 90 minutes worth of work. Lunch time and then....we get to try. Send in the clowns......
You can't imagine how intimidating this technique is for me. No under painting or any type of drawing. Simply applying the paint with a sure stroke while asking these 4 things: What is the 1. value; 2. color; 3.location and 4. temperature. After 3 and 1/2 hours, this was my portrait. Poor Dave. No ears or cranium or hair. On to the next day.....
6 comments:
Wow! I would be totally intimidated by such a direct approach! You are very brave.
I think this looks great for a first day's progress with a new technique.
I'm quite jealous Kim. I'm quite a fan of Jeff Hein. His paintings are beautiful and I've read quite a bit on him. I've never seen any of his originals in person :( But I'm happy for you to be taking this workshop and trying such a direct approach. I learned a lot in that regard from artist Gary Godbee. Happy painting! :)
And definitely a great first day's painting progess. The strokes are juicy and full of energy and life. Manchess would be proud ;)
Look at how sculptural your piece is already! I am so excited for you. Sounds like an amazing workshop, and thanks for sharing it with us. :)
Thanks for your comments, you guys. Since all of you are fellow IMCers, you'll understand how much of this approach is similar to Greg Manchess. I thought about his delivery of paint throughout the workshop.
That's a wonderful start. I have tried painting like that before and it ain't easy!
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