Paint with the Masters

The 7th annual Masterpiece Christian Artists Conference  "Envision"
May 30 - June 2, 2012

"Without a vision the people perish..."
Proverbs 29:18

Join other artists of faith who are sharpening their vision and purpose, refining their skills and pursuing excellence for three days of painting and drawing with master Christian Artists whose works have attracted the attention of a generation. Read More on my Art Journal Blog, Wet Paint Musings

Update: This was a wonderful conference! Good teaching and fun people to be with through the four days. The teacher worked with us to learn, practice and move to that next level.

I painted with Thomas Blackshear in the first two workshops. One was a portrait and the other a full figure, beautiful models, poses and very helpful instruction. The last workshop for me was with David Darrow. Chris Hopkins, our resident instructor, and Dennis Lewis are there each year to give the participants a critique of their work. They really helpful in following our progress, suggesting how we can improve and challenging us to make that next step.

A friend emailed a photo of me doing a life painting, along with a group of fellow artists in David Darrow's workshop. David walked us through step by step, starting with very dark colors, which forced me to make darker mixtures through out and I was pleased with the outcome.

The challenge of life painting is as artists we stand before a beautiful human being bathed in light, with subtle skin tones varying value and temperature. All we have to express this beauty is pigment mixed with oil and whatever skills we have developed. In these workshops the models were lit with incandescent light, giving the light side a peachy orange tone, with the sky light from the windows putting cool tones in the shaded side. I tend to see too much light in the shadow side of fair skin people, the delicate pink and grey tones there tends to fool me into painting lighter. I have to remember to squint and compare one area with another to see the subtle transitions from dark to light, as well as create a separation from dark to light. For now I need to err on the side of painting darker.

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