Saturday, May 12^th, 2018

Jim Himsworth

Capturing a Likeness

There are four necessities for achieving a successful portrait painting: recording a likeness, capturing a persona, creating a work of art and, when working professionally, pleasing the client. This workshop will focus on the first: Capturing a Likeness! Learn Jim’s method of seeing, and then recording, accurate values, colors (temperature), shapes, angles, proportions and edges while avoiding features. Coincidentally and paradoxically, this method, if faithfully executed, inevitably produces a likeness.

Levels for This Workshop: All Levels

Supply List:

Recommended or suggested Oil Colors:  (in order from left to right on palette)

• Cadmium Lemon (W+N)
• Cadmium Yellow (W+N)
• Yellow Ochre (G)
• Transparent Oxide Red (Rembrandt)
• Cadmium Orange (W+N)
• Cadmium Red (W+N))
• Perylene Red (G)
• Permanent Rose (W+N)
• Alizarin Crimson (W+N)
• Quinacridone Magenta (G)
• Dioxazine Purple (G or W+N)
• Ultramarine Blue (W+N)
• Cerulean Blue (W+N or G)
• Viridian  (W+N)
• Phthalo Green (G)
• Permanent Green Light (G)
• Ivory Black (optional) (G or W+N)
• Titanium White (120 ml)  (W+N)

Key:

• Winsor and Newton = (W+N)
• Gamblin = (G)

Brushes

• Silver Brush Grand Prix Brand (recommended).
•  Bristle Filberts #2, #4 and #6  (at least three of each).

Paint Rags

• Viva Paper Towels (recommended)
• Please bring a plastic trash bag to dispose of soiled rags/towels.

Canvas 

At least one Acrylic or oil primed canvas or panel (linen is also acceptable). Size may range from 11” x 14” up to 20” x 26”.

A completely dry, toned canvas is preferred, but white is acceptable.

To Prepare canvas tone mix:   (if using an acrylic ground, toning with acrylic or oil paints is fine. If the ground is oil based, use only oil colors to mix the tone.)

2 parts Ultramarine Blue

1 parts Burnt Umber

8 parts White

The result should be a medium-light blue gray tone (aucasian flesh value) , similar to Pantone 401U (Ask art store salesperson for Pantone sample.).

Apply tone thinly, yet opaquely, to white primed canvas or substrate.

Thinner

Must be ODORLESS thinner such as Gamsol, Turpenoid or Turpenoid Natural.

Additional Supplies

• Palette knife.
• Resealable metal container for odorless thinner (for brush cleaning).
• Easel
• Handheld Mirror