Intro to Oil Painting-Elements of Portraiture

Part of the Foundations of Oil Paint series by Jess Preble.

This 4 week session will introduce portraiture in oil painting.

You will have the opportunity to focus on becoming comfortable with construction of dynamic oil portraiture while using simple and inexpensive materials.

We will learn the elements of a portrait, and how to correctly translate ears, eyes, noses, etc., in relation to each other using basic anatomy.

This class will also place emphasis on incorporating dramatic lighting and composition into portraits, as well as using the weight of your negative space.

This class is preceded by Intro to Black and White, Monochromatic and Intro to Color.

You will finish this series with 1 – 2 completed oil portraits, and a deeper understanding of what elements are key to life and honest emotion in your portraiture.

MATERIALS:

• Canvases – Pick up a few different sizes. I like to use 16”x20”, try a few smaller and one big one.
• Flat surface to use as palette – Can be a plate, palette paper, piece of thick glass, metal tray, thick piece of plastic, etc. Please do not bring palettes with indentations or bowls/dips/cups.
• 1 glass jar with lid
• Small palette knife
• Odorless mineral spirits or paint thinner – This can be purchased in the hardware department of Walmart.
• Cotton rags/old T shirt/old towel
• Paint brushes. I recommend a #4, #6 and a few bigger. Try a couple different shapes – Filbert, Bright, Flat, and Round. Please make sure your brushes are designed for oil paint, as brushes for other types of paint will dissolve/fall apart in paint thinner.

The following paint colors in standard oil paint: titanium white, alizarin crimson, magenta, viridian green, prussian blue or phthalo blue, cerulean blue, cadmium yellow, naples yellow, yellow ocher, burnt sienna, raw umber, and black (Can be any type of black).