Nelson Shanks gave a demonstration at Freeman's auction this week as part of the weeklong celebration of Studio Incamminati at Freeman's. This included an exhibition of Studio Incamminati art work, a demo by Nelson, an interview with Michael Schmirconish and a royal wedding tribute. Thanks to Deborah and Andrew Webster, the co-chairs of this exciting week! Nelson began his demo with a quick grisaille, and then began working in a middle value in the light mass on the face. He then began to carve out lighter and darker planes, and indicated some highlights. After that he painted the background color in light, the model's white top and her hair. This took about 45 minutes.
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Here Nelson has painted the shadows under the chin and on the neck in full color, separating it into a warm and a cool area, and placed strong color notes in the background, showing the movement of the warmth of light across the pink drapery. Notice how he does not use browns for the shadows, he paints them in full color.
Here is the lovely model, Lauren Fadeley, who is part of the Pennsylvania Ballet, posing during a break. She was recently featured in the Academy award winning film Black Swan.
The demonstration took about three hours and Nelson's virtuoso performance was amazing to watch!
Love and kudos to the model, who did a wonderful job!
