In the studio environment, artists will be challenged to master distractions, such as movement, time-constraints, lighting, unfamiliar equipment etc. They will learn oil painting basics and practise traditional visual techniques to hone their accuracy.

Artists will begin by familiarising themselves with both their group studio space and their subject, by drawing their professional, clothed artists’ model in a loose, unstructured manner to overcome hesitance and preconceptions. Artists will be encouraged to explore the space around the model as well as the figure itself.

Artists will then move on to using oil paints to capture a shadow outline of the model’s facial features. Concentrating primarily on darks and lights, the artists will create a painted resemblance of their model which can then be used as a springboard to explore contemporary imagery or further traditional portraiture.

In this workshop you will:

• Draw loose line-work on paper

• Explore the human figure

• Observe the skeleton and musculature as seen from a live model

• Detect the shapes made by space around the figure

• Observe the unique elements that comprise an individual in their surrounds

• Learn to set out paint on a palette in the traditional manner

• Paint in oil paints on board and linen.

• Refine observational skills

• Learn some ‘tricks’ to getting a more accurate image

• Work on a two-tone mixed media oil sketch

• Work on a two-tone portrait for further development if desired

Artists to bring:

• Wear clothes you won’t mind getting stained or an old shirt or smock.

• A few newspaper and/or magazine cut-outs of articles/images to support your chosen VCE themes (enough to cover an A3 sheet of paper)

• A drawing implement that is unfamiliar (to challenge you) - can be anything from ball point pen, to charcoal, to kids’ crayon, to lipstick. Possibly links in with your themes.

All other materials will be supplied.