Crane's Flight in International Artist Magazine

This year has been an amazing year and I've felt so blessed to have my work published in so many of my favorite art magazines.  Here is a step-by-step tutorial of my painting, "Crane's Flight" that Christine Egnoski, Executive Director of the Portrait Society of America, graciously included in the feature on the Art of The Portrait in International Artist magazine.  A huge thank you to her as well as to Joshua Rose, the Editor of International Artist for their support!

Star Child in International Artist Magazine

I'm catching up on some past announcements here, and I realized I never shared this image of my painting "Star Child" which was included in The Portrait Society of America's "Master Showcase" article in International Artist magazine last year.  It was such an honor to be showcased along with so many amazingly talented artists. I'm deeply grateful to Christine Egnoski and Edward Jonas from The Portrait Society of America for all their support!

Plein Air Landscape Painting in Central Park

I think Central park is most beautiful in the fall and I'm loving this weather! What better way to spend the last days of September then painting in the park!  I'm teaching a plein air landscape painting class this weekend (September 26th and 27th) and there are still a couple spaces left!  No fancy equipment required. As you can see from the photos below you can even just use a cardboard box and some tape to make your own lightweight portable easel.  Also if you don't want to buy a new set of paints we can make arrangements for you to use mine. Here's a description of the class.  I hope you can join us!

Location: Central Park Ravine, by Huddlestone Arch, five minute walk from Central Park North and Malcolm X Boulevard 

Here's a shot of the beautiful Central Park Ravine where we'll be painting!

Dates: September 26 and 27 from 11am to 4pm

$200 for both days, $100 for one day

This two-day plein air painting workshop is a unique opportunity for students of all levels to learn the process of painting the landscape in oils using a full palette.

The course will center on the experience of painting outdoors (en plein air). Participants will learn the fundamentals and principles of designing and executing plein air landscape paintings.

Each day will include a painting demonstration, discussion and individual instruction at the easel.  Class sizes will be kept small to maximize personal instruction.

The beginner will learn fundamental principles such as how to mix colors and design a strong composition. The more advanced student will discover how to take their work to the next level and achieve the finish that they desire. 

To register for the workshop, or for further information, please email kristy@kristygordon.com.

The Artist's Magazine September Issue

I am thrilled to announce that one of my paintings, "Cree" (2014) has been featured on the September cover of The Artist’s Magazine. In addition to being on the cover, this issue includes an eight page spread on my work written by B.J. In the article I share details of my artistic practice including how I painted a portrait of myself swinging upside down. I’m grateful to B.J. as well as the magazine’s editor Maureen Bloomfield for giving me the opportunity to speak about my work and my process. You can order copies of the magazine here, grab a digital copy here and have a peak at the feature below.

Full Palette Notes

I've decided to do a new post about my current palette, as looking back on my last post about my palette, I've realized how much my palette has changed since then. It was fun to read my 2008 post, I had sch a cute, informal way of writing back then that I feel like I would never allow myself to post now. A lot of what I wrote still stands, my full palette is basically a combination of the artists I have studied with, and has transformed over the years.  At this point it's a combination of Jeremy Lipking, Juan Martinez and Yuqi Wang, with a little Kristy Gordon mixed in there as well.  I've taken a lot of the earth reds and browns off my palette now, which forces me to mix from brighter pigments and create richer colors.

I mix certain colors out to a "string" to create a tonal range to work from.  To do this I use a palette knife and pull the color down to some white, mix it in and back up, creating a darkest, middle and light tone for certain colors. I am careful to leave the color at the back pure, with no white mixed in. Also, I don't do this with the transparent colours anymore, such as transparent red oxide, viridian and ultramarine, as mixing white in with these colors would make them more opaque.  Therefore, I keep white far away from them since I want to keep them as transparent as possible.  I also prefer certain brands for the transparent colors, both Richeson and Windsor Newton have the most transparent versions I have found of transparent red oxide, burnt sienna, viridian and ultramarine blue.  I like to have transparency in my shadows, so by avoiding mixing white in and using transparent brands for the transparent colors, I am able to get the shadows to set back into transparent paint.

Another amazing thing I have discovered is something I learned from Alexandra Tyng, where cadmiums, which are usually somewhat opaque, when mixed together with a transparent compliment, become quite transparent.  So when I teach workshops with a full palette, I have the participants mix these two separate shadow color mixtures: cadmium red light with viridian green, and cadmium orange with ultramarine blue. These provide the lovely rich shadow colors that I prefer over using the browns and earth reds that I would reach for if I still had them on my palette.

I have also developed a series of pre-mixed colors that I always have on my palette.  I even find the "flesh color" useful when I'm painting plein air landscapes! The "flesh color" is a base color that I tint to make it cooler or warmer as needed to match the color of the models skin. The "blue mixture" is one that I learned from Jeremy Lipking.  It's a compliment to the flesh color (blue compliments orange) so when I want to make the flesh cooler, but not darken it as adding ultramarine blue to it would, this works well.  It's already lightened to the tone of the flesh color.  I started mixing the neutral grey mixture as well.  I'm not sure when it started, it just happened very naturally, and it's a very useful color for me to have handy.

I hope that helps!  Feel free to post comments and questions below!

I'm Teaching a Workshop in New York in March!

Hi All! I'm super excited to announce that I'm offering a figure painting workshop in New York in March!  We'll be using the famous limited palette that Anders Zorn used, consisting of only white, black, red and yellow ochre. This offers a surprisingly full range of colors as well as providing great color harmony. I hope you can join us!

Contemporary Figure Painting Using Classical Techniques 

Limited to 10 participants!

Location: 231 Maujer Street, 1^st Floor, Brooklyn

Dates: March 20^th from 6pm to 10pm, March 21^st and 22^nd from 10am to 4pm, 2015

$300 plus model fees

Learn a foundation of traditional techniques that can be used to develop your own personal style.

This three-day figure painting workshop is a unique opportunity for students of all levels to learn the process of painting the figure in oils using a limited palette.

The course will center on the experience of painting from a live model and there will be a single, sustained pose throughout the workshop. Participants will learn how to achieve a better likeness as well as how to paint convincing flesh tones. Each day will include a painting demonstration, discussion and individual instruction at the easel.

The beginner will learn fundamental principles such as how to mix colors and render form modeling. The more advanced student will discover how to take their work to the next level and achieve the finish that they desire.  These tips can be applied to all future work and improve any painting of any subject.

Discussions and handouts will cover the stages to developing a painting, comparative measuring, proportion and structure of the face and body, as well as glazing, value, edges, composition, light, and modeling with color temperature.

To register for the workshop, or for further information, please email info@kristygordon.com.

 

Dacia Gallery Holiday Show

My latest painting, "Radiate" will be included in Dacia Gallery's holiday show, Nunc Veritatem that opens tomorrow in NYC.  It is such an honor to be included in this amazing show with artists I admire so much, such as Patricia Watwood, Daniel Maidman, Max Ginsburg, Leah Lopez, Erin Anderson, Casey Childs, Janet Cook and Adam Miller.  I hope to see you at the opening tomorrow night (December 11th) from 6pm until 9pm.  There will be artist talks at 7:30!

"Radiate," oil on canvas, 24"x 24," 2014