Anatomy of the Human Head Workshop - Day One

Grisaille

I am so fortunate to have participated in a painting workshop featuring renown Instructor Dan Thompson.   This amazing artist is co-founder of the Janus School in New York City, this among his extensive credentials such as being named a "Living Master" by the Art Renewal Center.   The focus of the workshop he taught this May at the North River Arts Society was the human head.     I can't even begin to cover all the terrific information that was shared.   Dan reviewed the anatomical characteristics of the skull, neck and shoulders, as well as methods for identifying useful landmarks for painters when defining shapes and planar shifts.

 One of my personal goals going into the Thompson workshop was to learn more about skin color and fleshtones.    To me, some of the most interesting portraits are not photorealistic, but rather an interpretation of subtle skin tones with the use of stronger - even unorthodox and vivid - colors.   It takes a bit of daring to overcome the fear of "ruining" a decent painting with bold, interesting color.

On Day One, our assignment was to produce a "grisaille" rendering of the model.  ("Grisaille" is a monotone underpainting sometimes used as a base for the later application of translucent oil colours.)   The image to the left depicts my painting at the end of the day, and thus the conclusion of this model's time with us.   I would have loved to have finished the color version from the live model.  As subsequent blog posts will show, we welcomed a new model at the start of each new day.   What I did was to take color photographs of the Day One model and used them to create a brand new rendition of this painting, which I will share sometime in the future.