Internationally acclaimed artist Kirsty Gordon is coming to the Okanagan to teach a three-day “alla prima” painting workshop in Lake Country Jan. 3 to 5.
The Nelson-born artist’s work can currently be seen in the December issue of The Artist’s Magazine, in result of her winning third prize in the magazine’s 28th annual art competition.
Gordon’s workshop is designed for artists who want to learn the alla prima technique, working from live models. Alla prima, which means “at once” in Italian, is a painting style that is done in a quickly executed wet-onto-wet fashion.
“Artists of all skill levels will have an opportunity to develop a good vocabulary for painting from life, as well as delve into paint and brush handling to achieve a representational, realistic portrait in a more direct way,” said Gordon, who has had paintings in the rental program at the Vernon Public Art Gallery and has donated artwork to the gallery’s annual fundraiser, Midsummer’s Eve of the Arts.
“Each day students will complete a painting utilizing a different palette. They will explore a monochrome palette to develop their tonal perceptual abilities, and warm/cool palette to convey temperate contrasts, and finally utilize the same limited palette that artists such as Anders Zorn and Odd Nerdrum use. This palette provides a full range of colours while maintaining colour harmony.”
The course will also include demonstrations, discussions and individual instruction at the easel. Discussions will include proportion and structure of the head, stages to developing a painting, as well as form, shape, value, edges, balance, unity, light and modeling with colour temperature.
Gordon is visiting the valley, where her family resides, from New York City, where she currently lives, and is bringing inspiration from artists she has studied under, including New York’s Vincent Desiderio, as well as master painters Nerdrum, Yuqi Wang and Jeremy Lipking.
She exhibits her art work internationally, and has earned numerous prestigious awards, including Best of Show in the National Art Premier, Elmhurst, Illinois; a merit award from Daniel Greene in the Salon International 2009; and third prize in the Portrait Society of Canada’s International Portrait Competition.
Gordon has also been featured in a number of magazines, publications, and television shows, including Southwest Art’s Emerging Artist: 21 Under 31 and Bravo!’s Star Portraits.
Her paintings hang in more than 400 collections worldwide, including the Government of Ontario Art Collection.
To view her work, visit www.kristygordon.com.
The workshop will be held at the Winfield United Church, 3751 Woodsdale Rd. Lake Country from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. To register, or for more information, contact Bev Gordon at 250-766-1126 or email beverleybobshe@yahoo.ca.