sydneyartschool.com.au

PORTRAITURE IN OILS - INTRODUCTORY LEVEL

With Susan Cesarini

A 9-week introduction to portrait painting in oils ”alla prima” (painting directly from life, in one or two days, working wet-in-wet)
This is a course for oil painters who love portraiture, but who may not yet have portraiture skills or experience, especially in painting a portrait from life. It will focus both on individual teaching to suit the level of each student, as well as on group teaching to address the essential elements of portrait painting, including careful observation, pleasing composition, and the place of shape, colour and tone in achieving a three dimensional likeness and a sound painting.
There’ll be a balance of instruction, demonstration, individual help, and peer and tutor appraisal to guide the student from a first loose ‘rough-in’ to a finished portrait. The focus will be on working towards the creation of unique and expressive portraits that bring the subject to life on the canvas, while drawing on the student’s own creativity and individual style.
Each week there will be a ‘focus point’ – an essential skill of portraiture – to keep in mind during the morning’s painting. Students will no doubt use and interpret each skill in their own way, according to their experience and their own needs. But it is useful to establish a ‘common language’ as we develop and deepen our understandings of the portrait process.
As well as the incidental demonstrations during the course, on the first day there will be a 3-hour tutor demonstration of a head/shoulders portrait from life, giving students a chance to observe one artist’s process in bringing a portrait from block-in to final stage.

Susan is an award-winning portrait artist, with a life-time’s experience in education and a well-established reputation in the teaching of portraiture. She works directly from life in a fresh, comtemporary manner, using oil paint, lively brush strokes and simple colour mixes to create powerful, impressionistic portraits.