by Wendy Wagner
Third-year Student
Welcome back, as you shadow me through level three.
I will continue to write about my days as a student in the Advanced Fine Art program. For continuity, I'm starting with my first Monday class, however because of the holiday, school has been in session for almost two weeks.
Today is Portrait day with Kerry Dunn, and we are eager to get to work.
8 am: Arrive at school early to relax before setting up.
9 am: We jump right in the a 20-minute pose. Kerry walks around and evaluates what we are doing, giving corrections. His advice is for us to consider the gesture, tip, and tilt of the head. This continues for most of the morning, until we are allowed one 40-minute pose, which takes us right up to lunch. With the longer pose, we are instructed to add a value for the light.
Here are examples from the class:
Noon: Lunch is taken outside to enjoy the fall sunlight. Today is a Kerry-thon for some of us who are also taking his evening class, so I use the rest of my lunchtime to make a latte run. I will need the energy!
12:45 pm: Kerry sets up the model to do a four-pose demo. Below are some observations from each pose.
Pose 1:
Starts out with large shape; Divides one area for head, one for neck. If he starts in with an angle, he takes through head to see where it intersects on other side.
Look back and forth quickly between painting and model - in doing this, an error will jump out.
He adds no features in this pose.
Pose 2:
Always compare parts to the whole. If you compare the nose to the mouth, they may work together, but not with the whole. This will throw off your likeness. If you find yourself getting stuck in one area, move on. You will see the problem clearer when you go back to it.
Pose 3:
Kerry adds the light on the ball of the nose. This aids in evaluating the turn, tip and tilt of the head.
This is basically form painting, but using a generic flesh tone for the light masses. We are to mix up one tone to represent the middle value in light, and apply it thinly. To make a lighter value, the paint is applied opaquely. A darker value is achieved by thinning, thus letting more grey ground show through.
He drops in the highlight.
Pose 4:
Continuing to model towards the light, then switching to shadow, he addresses the half tone by mixing blue/green into the flesh color.
He also adds a touch of cad scarlet to the mixture to address the ruddy areas of the face, such as cheeks or an ear.
We end the class with our own 40-minute pose.
4-6 pm: We have two hours before the evening portrait class begins, so its time to eat dinner. After, I mosey in to level two to see the students who are working overtime, do some sketching, and check social media. Do you know that we are now on Instagram? Follow us! Studio_Incamminati.
6 pm: The evening portrait class begins. Anyone can sign up for an evening class but many students also take them also to get extra practice. This class has five students who are from the Advanced Fine Art program and six who are not. Reminiscent of a workshop, it's nice to mix it up with new people.
Kerry begins with a demo and explains how we will be using a limited palette for our one-night pose (to be detailed in a later post).
7 pm: We start working on our portrait
9 pm: Whew! Class is over for the day. In 12 hours, I'll be at my easel for Tuesday's class, so I gotta go. See you soon!
Third-year Student
Welcome back, as you shadow me through level three.
 |
| Returned to see our names by this |
I will continue to write about my days as a student in the Advanced Fine Art program. For continuity, I'm starting with my first Monday class, however because of the holiday, school has been in session for almost two weeks.
Today is Portrait day with Kerry Dunn, and we are eager to get to work.
8 am: Arrive at school early to relax before setting up.
9 am: We jump right in the a 20-minute pose. Kerry walks around and evaluates what we are doing, giving corrections. His advice is for us to consider the gesture, tip, and tilt of the head. This continues for most of the morning, until we are allowed one 40-minute pose, which takes us right up to lunch. With the longer pose, we are instructed to add a value for the light.
Here are examples from the class:
 |
| Examples from students |
 |
| Examples from students |
Noon: Lunch is taken outside to enjoy the fall sunlight. Today is a Kerry-thon for some of us who are also taking his evening class, so I use the rest of my lunchtime to make a latte run. I will need the energy!
 |
| Lunchtime pick-me-up |
12:45 pm: Kerry sets up the model to do a four-pose demo. Below are some observations from each pose.
Pose 1:
Starts out with large shape; Divides one area for head, one for neck. If he starts in with an angle, he takes through head to see where it intersects on other side.
Look back and forth quickly between painting and model - in doing this, an error will jump out.
He adds no features in this pose.
Pose 2:
Always compare parts to the whole. If you compare the nose to the mouth, they may work together, but not with the whole. This will throw off your likeness. If you find yourself getting stuck in one area, move on. You will see the problem clearer when you go back to it.
 |
| Kerry's Class Demo |
Pose 3:
Kerry adds the light on the ball of the nose. This aids in evaluating the turn, tip and tilt of the head.
This is basically form painting, but using a generic flesh tone for the light masses. We are to mix up one tone to represent the middle value in light, and apply it thinly. To make a lighter value, the paint is applied opaquely. A darker value is achieved by thinning, thus letting more grey ground show through.
He drops in the highlight.
Pose 4:
Continuing to model towards the light, then switching to shadow, he addresses the half tone by mixing blue/green into the flesh color.
He also adds a touch of cad scarlet to the mixture to address the ruddy areas of the face, such as cheeks or an ear.
We end the class with our own 40-minute pose.
4-6 pm: We have two hours before the evening portrait class begins, so its time to eat dinner. After, I mosey in to level two to see the students who are working overtime, do some sketching, and check social media. Do you know that we are now on Instagram? Follow us! Studio_Incamminati.
6 pm: The evening portrait class begins. Anyone can sign up for an evening class but many students also take them also to get extra practice. This class has five students who are from the Advanced Fine Art program and six who are not. Reminiscent of a workshop, it's nice to mix it up with new people.
Kerry begins with a demo and explains how we will be using a limited palette for our one-night pose (to be detailed in a later post).
7 pm: We start working on our portrait
 |
| Students working in the evening Portrait Class |