This week I was fortunate enough to take part in the three day "Modern Portrait" course at Newlyn School of Art. The course was taught by Jessie Leroy Smith and offered an exciting look into modern portraiture. The course was pretty experimental with new and interesting ways of looking and drawing Ifrom a model. It took me right out of my comfort zone using mediums I am not really familiar with such as watercolour, woodstain and oil paint. While I have used some of these before it has been a few years so I was a little hesitant at first but after a few minutes I soon found my feet and a renewed love of oil paint!
A small but intimate class that offered much input from the very experienced tutor
The classes work in watercolour on day 2
I feel I overworked the face here but this was my first watercolour in years! A very hard medium to learn!
This was much more successful, but not at first! I had to knock the painting right back by running it under water and sponging off the pigment. After reworking it I was left with quite a ghostly image. I would be very interested in working like this again.
Day 3 Under painting in acrylics.
This was quite a challenge as I was painting directly onto board with out any of my usual under drawing. This was quite daunting but I was pleased none the less.
The classes work at the end of day 3! I was very happy with what I had learnt on the course and have picked up some great new techniques. I thoroughly recommend the courses at Newlyn, very hands on and you get a lot out of it!
