Internationally acclaimed portrait artist, Kristy Gordon, will be teaching two oil painting workshops at The Art House in Lake Country in November.
Figure painting I
The first is a three day figure painting workshop which runs Nov. 24, 25, 26. This is a unique opportunity for students of all levels to learn the process of painting the figure from a live model using a limited palette, similar to the palette of artists such as Anders Zorn and Odd Nerdrum.
In the first workshop, there will be a single, sustained pose throughout the class, allowing students to explore the stages to developing a painting from a live model.
“We will begin by discussing comparative measuring, to get accurate proportions in the underpainting,” says Gordon. “Then we will move to colour and concentrate on big form modeling, then defining the planes of the figure, and finally glazing to fine-tune the details.”
Each day will include a painting demonstration, discussion and individual instruction at the easel. Class sizes will be kept small to maximize individual instruction.
Figure painting II
The second workshop builds on the first, and is designed to help students learn how to work from photographic reference while still achieving the appeal of a painting done from a live model. It runs Nov. 27, 28 and 29.
The second workshop is a new one that Gordon has developed based on requests to help students interpret information from photos to paintings that look like they were painted from life.
Gordon says, “It would be wonderful if we could always paint from live models, but the reality is that for various reasons ranging from economic, to the desire to paint complex expressions, or children (who will never sit still long enough) most artists must work from photos to some degree.
“The trick is to know how to interpret the photo and to know what information from it to use and what to omit.”
Once registered participants will be emailed directions on how to select a good photo to work from. Students are asked to select three photos they would like to paint, based on the guidelines, and email them to her before the class begins so that she can help select the best one to bring to the workshop.
Gordon’s work can be seen in the November/December issue of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine in its Three to Watch article.
Also, her self-portrait Seeing Myself Through the Fog of Misperception is a finalist for the $20,000 Kingston Prize, a biennial competition for Canadian Portraiture which will be exhibited at the Art Gallery of Calgary from Nov. 2 to Dec. 21.
Gordon will be flying in from New York, where she currently resides. These workshops mark the end of a busy year for her: This spring she completed her MFA from the New York Academy of Art with honours; she has just had a solo exhibition at Cube Gallery in Ottawa, which include the painting, Self-Portrait with Batman, which received an Award of Excellence from the Portrait Society of America; and she was one of the artists chosen to paint a panel in the National Mural Mosaic project for the 2013 Canada Summer Games.
Gordon has been a full-time, professional painter since 2004, exhibiting her work internationally and earning numerous awards including the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, a Merit Award from Daniel Greene in the Salon International 2009, third prize at the Portrait Society of Canada International Portrait Competition, Best of Show in the National Art Premier, Illinois as well as being named Top Finalist in the Art Renewal Center’s International 2008/2009 ARC Salon.
She has been widely featured in numerous magazines, art publications, radio and television shows, including The Artist’s Magazine’s 28th Annual Art Competition, Southwest Art’s Emerging Artist: 21 Under 31 and Bravo!’s Star Portraits.
Her paintings hang in more than 500 collections worldwide including the Government of Ontario Art Collection. To view her work please visit her website www.kristygordon.com.
To register for the workshops, or for further information, please contact Bev Gordon by email at beverleybobshe@yahoo.ca.