Third Session, Winter

The Winter Sessions started January 19th. I decided to sign up for Nathan Fowke's Head Painting class. Nathan graduated with honors from the Art Center College of Design and is currently a visual development artist at Dream Works. The buzz was that he was a wonderful teacher but he required a lot of homework. I took the challenge and found myself using my own head for much of the homework. We started with black and white value studies with chiaroscuro type lighting, then we used Zorn's limited pallet, and finally a full pallet with overhead lighting.






















My grandson, Eric West, came to LA for a family visit and I did his portrait for homework. He is the one that looks like Jesus Christ.








Nathan's final assignment was to copy an old master's painting. I choose John Sargent's Lady Agnew. I cropped it so it would fit on a 24X30 canvas. He was pleased with my brush work.











I really liked Johanna Spinks, she puts a lot of energy into her class, so I decided to continue taking her Figure and Still Life Painting. Johanna always does a quick
demo and still finds time for each student.

Johanna not only shares her knowledge in the classroom, she keeps us informed through her blog. She gave me the courage to start this blog. I now consider her my Art Reporter. She writes very well and with her British accent!


I visited her studio, we had lunch, and I got some ideas about setting up my own studio in Texas.
































I also stuck with Ignat's 5 hr. Alla Prima Figure Painting class, but this time I forced myself to tackle the entire figure, not just the top third. He set up some very dramatic lighting and really pushed the values and temperatures.