People interested in oil painting can hear from an internationally acclaimed artist in late March as the Lake Country Art Gallery will host a three day workshop.
Artist Kristy Gordon will be teaching a three day portrait painting workshop at The Art House, an extension of the Lake Country Art Gallery on Bottom Wood Lake Road March 27 to 29. This is a unique opportunity for students of all levels to learn the process of painting the portrait in oil using a full palette.
Gordon is gaining international recognition for her teaching as well as her figurative oil paintings. She will have a step by step tutorial article in the April/May 2014 issue of International Artist Magazine and was included in the November/December issue of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine in an article called Three to Watch. Also her self-portrait Seeing Myself Through the Fog of Misperception was a finalist for the $20,000 Kingston Prize, a biennial competition for Canadian Portraiture, which was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Calgary from Nov. 2 to Jan. 25.
The upcoming workshop will center on the experience of painting from a live model. There will be a single, sustained pose throughout the workshop and students will complete one painting over the course of the three days. This will allow students to explore the stages to developing a portrait.
"We will begin by discussing comparative measuring to get accurate proportions in the underpainting," said Gordon. "Then we will move to colour and concentrate on big form modeling, then defining the planes of the face and features, and finally glazing to fine-tune the details."
Gordon added that students will learn how to achieve a better likeness as well as how to paint convincing flesh tones and render textures like cloth and hair.
Each day will include a painting demonstration, discussion and individual instruction at the easel. Class sizes will be kept small to maximize individual instruction. Discussions will include comparative measuring, proportion and structure of the head, stages to developing a painting, as well as form, value, edges, balance, unity, light and modeling with colour temperature.
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 workshop, or for further information, please contact Bev Gordon by email at beverleybobshe@yahoo.ca.