Walked Into the Workshop and Out of My Comfort Zone

I firmly believe that workshops should be a time of experimentation and learning, a time to leave behind the familiar for a few days (or hours) and explore the new. If you are going to stick to your same old - same old during a workshop, you might as well save your money and stay home.

And while all of the above sounds great, it didn't stop the unwelcome guests, Fear and Uncertainty, from crashing last weekend's workshop with James Toogood when he recommended that everyone spend at least one day creating a painting of the live model we had in class.

WHAT!?! Me work from the model? But I don't really have any experience painting people. Heck, I barely have any experience drawing people!

Since I didn't want Fear and Uncertainty to follow me home and keep me awake that night, I decided to "get it over with" and paint a portrait of Dave, our Saturday model. Thankfully, Jim is an excellent instructor. He guided us through the entire process -- giving suggestions if drawings needed correction; telling us his formula (paint mix) for the initial wash of skin color, which would become out lightest lights; pointing out where he saw color in the model's skin and, perhaps more importantly, what colors he saw; and teaching us about adding rich darks. From start to finish he made Fear and Uncertainty sit down, be quiet and behave.

Below is my version of Dave's portrait. I am pleased with the outcome of my first ever watercolor portrait. I achieved a good likeness and was bold, for me, with my color application. (The models eyes really were drooping much of the time - modeling can be tiring and boring work - plus I was too far away to see his eyeballs.)

watercolor on paper
approx. 15" x 20"

Dad also painted Dave, but I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have an image of his painting.

More next time about Day 2 of the workshop.