Liberace Workshop-Day 5 and Final Day

Well, it is amazing how fast a five day workshop goes by. As I anticipated, today was a struggle. I would say it was the hardest day for me as I was sailing off into completely new territory. If I had more time I probably would have had better results but ironically, sometimes it can be better to not have more time. Here is my final painting:

This is not a finished piece even though I am through working on it. Some people not only finished but did two. That's OK, everyone is at different skill levels and I took my time so I could learn. The proportions are off but the instructor said I did a good job on the shadows and lights. Other students had better painting techniques but struggled with their shadows and lights so everyone had a learning curve or area of challenge of some sort!
I am still pretty new to oil painting and have never mixed skin tones. The little paint spots on the right are tests of color. I filled up the side and wiped it clean several times.
I put up work like this on my blog for a reason. My intent on starting my blog was to show that people with determination and willingness to work very hard (good teachers help too) can become a skilled artist. I still have a ways to go and as you can see from above I sometime make a mess. It is a glorious mess that represents perseverance in the face of frustration and a willingness to fail beautifully, not just once but over and over again.
We decided to head home a day early instead of staying an extra day as originally planned. I will take a few days off to catch up on the house-holdy stuff and rest a bit before heading back to the studio. I have some art research to do and new things to try. I plan to be back to post the Sunday after Labor Day here in the U.S.
Finally, thank you Mena for the wonderful comment and the encouragement. A link to Mena's work has been on the sidebar in the 'Artist's who inspire' section for a while now. Check it out!
Looking forward to being by the wild and beautiful sea tomorrow.
-Renee

Liberace Workshop-Day 3 and 4

We all had a wonderful relaxing dinner hosted by Cary and her husband of WIFAS last night. I think my favorite moment is when dark fell and many of us were sitting around a bonfire. I looked across the fire and saw a weary or pensive teacher staring into the fire with his two young daughters sitting on each knee. It would make a lovely picture!
I will start with the two oil sketches from yesterday. The first was about 45 minutes (in 15 minute segments). This is really the first time I have tried to do a formal grisaille in oil of the human figure.

The second one was done in the 3 hour afternoon session. It was a bit challenging as I was on the side and the cloth the model was sitting on that had the position taped to kept slipping around so that the model's position kept changing. I loved this particular gesture so I nailed it there even though the model's position changed. Not the model's fault.

Today we all changed positions and switched models. We will be doing this same pose tomorrow too. I am hoping I will get a chance to paint it in color as I have never done that. I might just focus on the pose and technique and stick to the same colors as above. I am painting on a gesso board that has been toned medium gray. It is smaller than I am used to and the surface is fairly smooth, something I am not used to either. I did pick up a few techniques on working on this support though so it is worth trying out in this circumstance. Here is today's work:

I am making rather a mess out of the paint. It is streaky and a bit busy. I am hoping I will be able to correct that tomorrow. The paint is just burnt umber with a touch of burnt sienna. The light part is just the areas with the paint removed or rubbed out. This is a challenging pose for the model to hold as it is very tiring. Toward the end of the day, he would sit down during the break and doze off. He has been a very patient and obliging model.
In between and during us painting, Rob Liberace was painting a couple of demos. The last one is a portrait on copper. It is looking really interesting and I think I might want to try that myself sometime. We are able to see how he handles the challenges of working on copper. That is a bit of a bonus as it wasn't in the workshop description.
One of many things I really like about Robert Liberace as a teacher is that he has a wonderful curiosity and willingness to explore. He is generous about sharing the knowledge he gains. I would say the workshop is worth every penny it costs on just that alone. Of course, we also get good instruction and some feedback. I think all of my workshop mates would agree that we can't get enough feedback but that is because there are so many of us and only one of him. His classes and workshops are in high demand. I was lucky to get in which is why I signed up months ahead of time. I can understand why they enroll as many people in the workshop as they can.
Tomorrow is the last day of the workshop. I will have more to post of course.
I am not able to answer comments for some reason. I am still having trouble with Blogger. I will answer Theresa's question here about taking photos for reference. There is an understandable policy that no photos of the models are allowed. Even if we would never post them online, you never know if your computer might get stolen or the info falls into the wrong hands. If I were a model, I would not want any photos taken either. Photo references have their drawbacks too but that is a topic for another post. Theresa, thanks for asking! And thanks to everyone for their interest.
-Renee