Return from Guanajuato

I'm glad to be back. The very next morning after my return I opened the atelier and we got back down to business.  There are warm and fond memories to revisit, pictures to go through, unpacking to do and a whole lot more. As they say "No rest for the wicked".

These feet did a lot of walking, it was hilly, so I bought myself these nifty boots. The entire trip my hands kept busy, I sketched, painted watercolour and gouache and saw many sights. My mouth tasting the culinary favourites of the region. My ears listened to the cacophony of the busy streets and battling Mariachi bands in the plaza.  There is much to tell and share, but it will have to arrive in its own time. For now back to the Atelier!

Listen to this! We started the portrait class with the study of the ear and why? we have to draw it that way. I did a quick demo after anatomical notes on the board. I gave each student a reference photo to study and transmit onto their paper.

 After the portrait drawng class we moved into the afternoon portrait painting portion where we continued our study f the ear. In this session we painted in the skin tones based on what we drew previously. We roughed in colour an defined.

 The following day in Still life/object studies we learned to draw bone texture with two skulls I borrowed from the decor of my house.

 I did a demo of finding dark shapes and some lights on toned ground.

 The students did great work describing the forms in their own styles. After a short break we moved into paint studies and how to mix warm and cool grey tones and how to lay them in for the skull study.

 We scraped back our work after the lesson ready for another painting session anther day.

 We also have a new studio assistant, on loan from JJ peters. Thanks to her sleuthing skills we have a full sized skeleton in questionable condition to work with. That was just the first two days back!

Coming very soon....

....more updates

plus

the latest episodes on Youtube from Guanajuato!