Recap: Putney Painters Week at the Scottsdale Artists School

This past week, I had the amazing privilege of attending Nancy's Guzik's three-day workshop in Scottsdale, AZ. The workshop was part of "Putney Painters Week"-- an event hosted by the Scottsdale Artists School and the Legacy Gallery -- and was one of several workshops and demos by some of the best artists in the country, including Kathy Anderson, Rosemary Ladd, Daniel Keys, Casey Baugh, and Stephanie Birdsall.

I came with an open mind and a feeling of immense gratitude to be surrounded by such inspiring and gifted artists. And for the entire week, I was pretty much unable to wipe the silly smile off my face. For me, this was heaven. I don't think I've ever had such fellowship with like-minded people, many of whom were my own age!

Nancy's workshop consisted of drawing on the first day, and then painting for the next two. She spent an entire morning doing a painting demo for us to show how she deals patiently with the subject, mostly by being patient with herself and not allowing fear to take over. She has mastered the art of channeling her fear (yes, even she gets afraid!) and turning it into a controlled excitement that can be used to better the painting. Here are some pictures from her demo:

 Below: this is about as far as she got after the morning session. It is a great likeness and painted with complete sensitivity as well as confidence.

Since all of our models this week were children, I learned a great deal about the difference between a child's features and an adult's, as well as how to capture the child's age. It was also fun to see how Nancy kept the children happy and entertained between sittings. They would color or draw, or make up stories to think about while they sat still (not an easy thing for a young kid!). All of the kids we worked with were stunning models and great at sitting still!

By day 2, I was biting at the bit to start painting, so you can imagine my excitement when our model turned out to be this beautiful 13-year-old with a sweet little dog that sat by her side the entire time! The dog's name was Angel... I think I'll title my painting, "Two Angels."

Below: mine at its start. It was actually a pretty good likeness. I worked slower than I usually do though, trying my best to follow Nancy's advice and direction.

This is as far as I got. I'll be sure to finish it in my studio, though. (Never mind those yellow marks - that happened in transit on the plane ride home...an easy fix)

Below: here's our model from the last day of the workshop. This time we worked for 6 hours, and as a glutton for punishment, I decided to attempt head and hands once more. While I may not be 100% happy with what I did, I believe I learned a lot and look forward to utilizing this new information at home in my studio! And, as my friend Kim Carlton told me once, "If you're happy with a painting you did in a workshop, then you didn't learn anything!"

I decided to stick around for two more days after the workshop ended to enjoy some of the other events with Putney Painters Week, including the "Dueling Brushes" demo by Kathy Anderson and Stephanie Birdsall (see below), and the opening reception for the Putney Painters exhibition and sale.

I had a wonderful time meeting many of the great artists in this show, and getting to know some of them a little better. Nancy, of course, is a ray of sunshine.

Friday: Casey Baugh gave a fabulous painting demo. I learned a lot from him about designing a good composition and taking your time with posing the model to create an image with lasting impact. He is also amazing at painting edges! Wow.

The finished demo.

Below: lunch with some fabulous young artists. From left to right (not including yours truly): Tyler Murphy, Daniel Keys, Ryan Mellody, Michelle Dunaway, Qiang-Huang, and Taaron Parsons. I am so blessed to have met these people. We have so much in common; it's just great to know that we're all in the same boat - trying to make it as artists and create great art, to the very best of our ability.



For more pictures from this week, see my Facebook album. Next week I'll be in Judy Carducci's workshop, so there will be even more to learn and write about! We'll see if my brain can handle it... ;-)

"The Art of The Portrait Conference" - April 22-25. 2010

I've just gotten back from the PSOA's annual portrait conference in Reston, VA, and I feel excited and renewed as an artist - ready to dive back in to the difficult challenges of painting portraits! There was such an amazing energy there all weekend, as hundreds of artists congregated in one place and talked about the one thing they all had in common: that one thing which drives us all. It's that beautiful obsession with skin tones and shapes and relationships between values and colors. It's our inward desire to create impressions of the beauty that surrounds us. We can't live without it, and yet we struggle with its complexities and our own limitations. Being a portrait artist is an amazing calling!

In my latest newsletter, I talked about portfolios and how having a clean, professional and beautiful presentation has been a big step towards gaining credibility and recognition in the art world (hence, the honorable mention in the PSOA portfolio competition - this is huge for me!).

Here are a few of the other wonderful things I gleaned from this year's conference:

• The secret to growing as an artist is painting from life
• Think about sculpting the whole time - what is the structure underneath it all? Think about effect - what are the key descriptives of the form? Think about interpretation - what feels right?
• If you're having trouble getting started, just go for it and let yourself make some mistakes so you can fix them. Key words: Inspiration, Persperation, Determination, ATTITUDE
• Find ways of acheiving something different - something that no one has ever seen before.
• Let yourself be a little uncomfortable - challenge yourself!
• Note on materials: Rose Frantzen used oil sticks to draw and block in masses at the start of her demo. I can't wait to give these a try!
• Why teach art? Because of the possibility of the experience - to help someone find the right question at the most useful time when painting.
• Feed active questioning about purpose, meaning, approach, etc. What is my ultimate question?
• Be around people who are passionate about painting.
• There is a heirarchy of intention. "Is what I'm about to do next going to take me closer to the direction I wish to go, or further away?" (Schmid)
• When it comes to having a good studio, there is no substitute for light and space. It's okay to have too much light because you can scale it back, but not enough light is going to be a problem.

One of my idols in the art world, Nancy Guzik, gave a generous amount of time to look at my portfolio and to talk with me about expression. She had so many words of encouragement, and it struck me when I mentioned something about edges (I guess I asked her something like, "How are you able to express so much through the use of soft edges?"), and she said, "Oh, that's just technique..." that I am finally starting to dig a little deeper as an artist. The expressiveness came to the painting not just through her use of brushwork and technique, but through her ultimate intention - she knew what she wanted to accomplish from the start of the painting, and the technique was simply her vocabulary. Nancy's work encompasses where I wish to be someday in my own work - her paintings express a kind of honest joy as she depicts women and children with great tenderness.

So where am I going with this? I have a goal for my own work - whether I'm doing commission work or paintings just for fun - my goal is to make every painting an expression of gratitude. Before now, I kept asking myself, "Is my work relevant?" because my whole life has been relatively easy. Now I'm realizing that you don't need to have a life full of pain and strife to create art that says something meaningful. Beauty in and of itself is a worthy aim. Further, my Christian calling comes to mind in the mindst of this internal questioning, and I realize every day how truly blessed I've been, my whole life. Therefore, it would be wrong of me to express anything but gratitude!

I am a young artist, but I do have a lot to say, and I think my message will be relevant, especially in a society that is weighed down by its own moral dissolution. This year's portrait conference was good for me, because it helped me to dig a little deeper. I'm ready to dive in!

P.S. Here is the one souvenir I picked up from the National Gallery of Art...now with my morning coffee in it. :-) It says, "I am still learning."