Anatomy of the Human Head - Day Two

Sampling of Instructor Demo

It was Day Two of the Dan Thompson workshop at the North River Arts Society and we began the day with a new model, a delightful young college student (a musician) with a dark complexion and long dreadlocks tied back.  As we did for Day One, we started with a grisaille to establish the blueprint for the painting.   Our workshop instructor, Dan Thompson told us that we would quickly move to the color on Day Two, unlike the first day in which we worked exclusively in monotone.   It took me longer than it probably should have on this day to get the monotone underlay done.    Dan assured me that it was worth the extra time to get the drawing right.   I liked that a lot because I do not like to be rushed!

Day Two Model

The strategy for applying color was basic.    Select the color element that was the easiest to see.   In other words, which part of the scene do I have complete confidence that I not only can identify the color, but that I know how to match, mix and apply it.    Once this initial accurate judgment is made and on the canvas, the next color - theoretically - can more easily be compared (brighter, lighter, cooler, darker...) to the first stroke.  Dan demonstrated this method as he developed his painting of our model and what at first looked like a rough rudimentary scramble of color dots resulted in an amazing likeness of our model.

My painting was a different story.  Painting humans is hard but fascinating and my excuses are numerous ....   the canvas was so big....I'm using different tube colors than I'm used to.... and walnut oil as a medium...  They say struggling brings growth...

Here is the portrait from day two...

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.