Learn to paint colour portraits from life using a limited palette.
This portrait painting workshop with Christopher Clements will introduce you to painting portraits with a limited palette of red, yellow, blue and white. This introduces colour in a limited way helping you understand the basic ingredients of a colour palette and the role of each colour. This will give you a strong foundation and unity of colour in your work.
The workshop will also show you a direct painting technique, also known as ‘Alla Prima’. This approach involves painting in one sitting, working wet into wet. It is perfect for making stand alone sketches, studies for studio portraits or simply portrait sketching for your own enjoyment.
Limited Palette Portrait Painting Workshop Overview
The workshop will introduce you to an approach designed to help you develop your work in an organised way while pushing your technique.
You’ll start by making colour studies to explore the potential of the palette and the role of each pigment. Following this you’ll complete exercises to explore skin tones and the relationship between tone and colour.
Next you’ll look at drawing the head in paint, in particular gesture and orientation, proportion and construction as well as compositional principles.
Finally you’ll put all this together to produce a colour portrait study from life. As you work towards the finished piece you’ll concentrate on one concept at a time. Each stage builds on the previous helping you make informed decisions throughout the process. This provides you with a framework to greatly increase the efficiency of your work and enable you to pace the painting according to the time you have available.
- How to paint a well structured head with accurately placed features
- Composition and lighting
- Planes of the head and tonal value
- Colour mixing and effective use of a limited palette
- Creating focus through varied brushwork and selective rendering of detail
- Efficient use of time
- Direct oil painting techniques
By the end of the workshop you will have learnt how a limited colour palette works and how it can keep your colour clean, unified and lively. You will also have developed your painting technique and understanding of layering, mediums and brushwork. This will help you stay in control as improve your observational painting techniques, understanding the gesture and construction of the head.
The class is limited to 7 students meaning you can work towards your own personal goals whether you’re looking to learn fundamental principles or push your skills from a more advanced position.
Limited Palette Portrait Painting Workshop Booking
Date: TBC – Get in touch if you’d like to join the mailing list
Price :£160
Location: Northern Realist Studio, Manchester – Map
Materials: Colour oil paint
Course Length: 12 Hours over 2 Days
Hours: 09:45-16:30
More info email info@northernrealist.com or use the contact form