Great advice from other artists -Part Two Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists Weekend Symposium on Portraiture 2012

This is Daniel Greene checking out my pastel portrait of him called "The Mentor"

These are photos of the "Faces of Winter 2012" juried portrait exhibition and top two photos are of Daniel Greene the honoree  , middle photo is Dan's wife and artist Wendy Caporale and bottom photo is friend and artist Doug Auberg who are each taking their time to view the portraits on display. Before, during and in between sessions of the portrait symposium, artists would drift off to the gallery room to take time to look at and study each portrait alone.

Wendy Caporale and me in front of her lovely portrait of a young woman which was impressively framed in classic and traditional gold and was the perfect finishing touch for this skillfully executed oil portrait. The purples and blue greens in this painting remind me of Dan's choices of color dating way back in the seventies. I too love this color combination and contrasted against the skins tones I think is exciting to the viewer. I also noted the sound archival way in which the back of the painting was stretched and prepared for her painting. It was braced with both a wood and aluminum contemporary set up , archival  and sound. I was working on receiving day and checked the backs of paintings coming in to see what professional artists are using today for stretching their canvas or linen. I believe as a professional artist, it is essential to be concerned with the archival qualities of your work and supplies you work with and present. That is being responsible and putting value into your work.


The first day of the Symposium began with a talk by Peter Trippi from Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine on "Realism's Revival Nationwide" He used a large screen with constant revolving images of paintings done by many of today's artists, being careful to say that they were randomly chosen. I knew many of the artists we viewed and of their individual styles of work. It was disturbing for me to hear that the center of the art world, New York City still likes, markets, shows and advertises"new modern art" and Trippi said that "New York City is letting down the USA". He did say that the rest of the country has a better pulse on the realism (going from tight contemporary realism to a looser style of plein air impressionism) and that the younger generation of artists today are embracing more old traditions in training to be artists but using more creativity in their expression of that. Trippi went on to say that Choosing/Discerning/Analysing were the three things artists need to employ and be mindful of. He also noted that today's generation of youth are not able to talk aesthetics! They can't talk about art because they haven't been taught to. They are not exposed to the arts enough in grade or high schools or in their families. Artist Mentors are in great need for our new generation of artists. When I heard that I knew I validated all that I have done and still do in life as a mentor and instructor. I have young talented Atelier students who I selected from high school art competitions and found that their local art programs and teachers gave them very little. It is not just the skills that need to be taught but the sharing of experience, art philosophies, teaching of art histories and contemporary work of today as well as taking them to museums and galleries and learning to speak about what they see and feel.

This is a photo of portrait artists' John Howard Sanden and Joel Spector, and Peter Trippi from Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine

Trippi commented on portrait painters needing to have that connection between people. They need to have emotion and subjectivity and not fear subjectivity. We need to have "slow art" patience in our crazy fast computerized world. In our Capitalistic society, "we have dollars that equal value that equal importance" Slow and patient art is counter cultural.
To give an example, Trippi noted that a painting done by Alma Tadema the artist was sold recently for millions but no publicity was given to this and hardly anyone knows of this. I have always been attracted to Lawrence Alma Tadema's work( Dutch painter 1836 - 1912) and even recently studied one of his magnificent paintings at the Clark Museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts on an art study trip with my friend Jan Blencowe. His skill, color, drama, perspective and knowledge of the human figure was extraordinary. He was known for his portrayal of scenes of Classical Antiquity.
Lastly, Trippi said "We should have an eye to the young student". He said that they will show the significant art movements in our society and they will pay homage to their teachers and mentors.   Of course as a teacher and mentor to gifted young artists, I treasured the thought of being remembered and honored for sharing all of what I have with them. However the sting that many older accomplished and skilled painters felt with the thought of never reaching that goal of success and acknowledgement with our own personal work lingered on for the next day of the symposium.

The next speaker of the first day was Mary Minifie a portrait painter of the Boston School of painting. Paul Inbretson who studied with Ives Gammel who in turn studied with the great William Paxton. The lineage is very important in the line of art study. It is not just a workshop (as it is today) of a short day or two group study with a master. It is true mentoring in a total environment of dedication for a number of years.
Mary talked about the big picture of a portrait and all of the elements that it takes to complete a good painting. The elements she discussed that I found most important were
1. Psychological and emotional appeal! (Must give the viewer a feeling and an impact and perhaps a story of some sort)
2. Composition
3. Unity (and diversity)
4. Harmony (the way things go together)
5. Possess a larger beauty than what is there.
6. Spotting (a series of three light and dark patterns)
Mary discussed how she worked up a portrait with a thumbnail oil sketch, then a value work up and then finally a color sketch she presents to her client before she begins her final portrait painting.

The presentation panel of portrait artists on Sat. morning were from left to right:
Robert Alexander Anderson (the originator of "the Breck Shampoo Girl", Igor Babailov, Laurel Stern Boeck, Wendy Caporale Greene, Daniel Greene, Irene Hecht,
Mary Minifie, John Howard Sanden, Joel Spector and Peter Trippi.

Laurel Stern Boeck began with a small portrait she had already prepared so that she could do her demo on "Bringing it home, Finishing a portrait" I found her demo fascinating. We watched and listened as she brought the darks in her painting darker, the lights lighter and then proceeded to accent further with her individually selected darks and highlight even further in exactly the correct places to make her portrait come alive. I found her portrayal of her subject sensitively executed and carefully painted with each step. She talked about her simple palette and gave us her exact colors used with each mix of skin tone. She discussed using a full spectrum light bulb and the medium and brushes she used as well.

Laurel brought with her a variety of oil portrait sketches in various stages to view. I enjoyed her lecture and demonstration very much. I believe she is a thoughtful, careful, skilled and sensitive painter.

This is E.Raymond Kinstler who stopped by for some interesting and wise art talk and to see his fellow artist/friend receive his Life time achievement award.
The last of the morning speakers was Igor Balailov who studied with the Russian Academy of Arts with a most traditional  and classical art education. Igor talked about "The Importance of Drawing" and also when working with photo reference. I began my formal art training at 15 yrs. old with a scholarship to The New York Phoenix School of Design in NYC.after drawing intensely on my own for many years. I knew that I was an artist as a child and could never see myself as anything else. My training in NYC was classical art training with full day classes in cast drawing, life drawing, portrait drawing and drawing inside of the Metropolitan Art Museum.
Igor gave a list of important elements of fine drawing .
1. Goal of your drawing and COMPOSITION (which is so important to me)
2. The Psychology of the Portrait
3. Full pose, 1/2 pose, 3/4 pose of the model, standing or sitting and the Characteristic of model posing.
4. Background of your drawing or painting
5. Eye Level - position of surface
6. Balance - dark and light, mass and line, vertical or horizontal
7. Focal Point (where do you want the viewers eye to go
8. Conflicts- short/tall, dark/light, slim/chubby
9. Tonal values
10. Clothing - drapes and folds
11. Texture
12. Proportions/likeness

He stressed the artist knowing how to draw before they paint. I completely agree with all Igor said . I may have said the same things in a different way and would have been more detailed and gave more illustrations to prove my point. I love drawing.

Igor also gave a detailed way in which to transfer your completed drawing onto your canvas to paint from.
Igor also brought back to memory, one way to "Train Visual Memory" by
1. Drawing from life
2. One hour later - Draw same thing again from memory
3. Compare the first drawing to the second drawing and find out what you need to work on?

And that was just the morning session!

The symposium ran smoothly, on time and with all of Jeanine Jackson's hard work, it was a professionally co ordinated and well thought out event.

more to come

Part One: The Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists presents A Daniel Greene Festival 2012

After attending another excellent Weekend Symposium given by CSOPA, (The Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists),I thought that I should blog about the fine experience and to commend the President and Founder of the Society, Jeanine Jackson, CSOPA CoChairs Deborah Howland Murray and Nancy Stember, the Event Chairs, Patricia Boes and Joel Spector and the many others who put this event together and volunteered for one job or another.

For those artists interested in Portraiture, it is a must to attend an event like this. It is a marathon of talks, lectures, demonstrations, and visits by significant members of the art community in this state as well as throughout the United States. Jeanine Jackson succeeded in presenting to the Portrait Community a most interesting and thought provoking look into the portrait and the portrait painter.

For those of you who missed this great weekend I would like to recap some of the activities and events that I benefited the most from.

The Weekend began with a  portrait exhibition juried by Artist Steven Assael , known for his contemporary realism and figurative work. The opening reception was on Friday Feb. 3, 2012 and began only after a fine "Paint off Trio Demo" that took place at 4:30 by artists Joel Spector, William Nathans, and Jesus Emmanuel Villarreal.

Each stood at their easels painting the same model from different angles in the corridor of the UCONN Campus just outside of the main exhibition called "Faces of Winter 2012". Artists came early to watch the artists demonstrate and to kick off the Opening of the Portrait Exhibition which began at 6pm. Many wore red or at least a bit of red for the occasion being so close to Valentine's Day.

Each artist painted in their own style, using their own unique palette and all painted in oil here. One artist on the right used a pochade box style easel that has a palette that drops down right in front of the artist almost at a right angle so that you can look at your paint and mixing right below the painting you are working on. Many of the artists in the crowd came from all over our state of CT. as well as several other states. Most artists were older with a great deal of experience, but there were some young talents there in attendance as well. The portrait demos were sold to the highest bidder when the working time finished.

 The show was hung by Artists Sandra Wakeen and Diane Aeschliman and was well attended. The far wall was hung with paintings by faculty members of CSOPA chosen by Ms. Jackson for their noted accomplishments as instructors and painters. The middle of the faculty wall hung a beautiful intense oil painting of two young women by Daniel Greene, who was chosen to receive a lifetime achievement award that weekend. The oil painting on the right side of the wall of a young woman in intense blue with her hands folded was painted by Dan's talented wife and artist Wendy Caporale. I couldn't keep my eyes off of these two paintings. They sang to me!

At the opening reception of the show I met "Facebook Artist Friend" Alan Dingman and his lovely wife. In the photo above, me, Alan's wife and my artist/friend Jan Blencowe  who came down for the opening and brought with her two of my young talented atelier students.

This is Artist and Pastelist Alain Picard from CT. with me, my student Anna, artist/friend Jan and her daughter and my fine atelier student Shannon Blencowe.

These were this years award winners for the "Faces of Winter 2012" Exhibition and you can find me in there back row on left in back. I painted Dan Greene's portrait in pastel for my entry into the show this year to pay my appreciation and respect to him as the artist who was most important in my career of over 45 yrs now. I did not have him to sit for the pastel portrait I did of him and found it necessary to paint it from a small snapshot I took just two years ago while he was at a portrait event. It was well received and most importantly by Dan himself.

This is my husband Daryl and I standing in front of my portrait of Daniel Greene called "The Mentor"

It was a thrill to stand in front of my pastel painting "The Mentor" and have Dan Greene right along side of me. One of my pastel paintings I painted of him years ago is in Dan's own private collection.

Part Two next week

Our visit to see Henry Hensche Fashback Friday #6

This was one of the pastel portraits I did the first summer in Gloucester. It is of Jakki Kauffman who was one of the monitors in Dan's classes. I painted her two or three times and the other monitor Tom Dillion two times as well. They were great models and great artists.  In this portrait I left the arm on the left side and the hands in the lower part of the painting to disappear into a vignette. The surface was darker than middle tone paper and the colors were tricky to make sure that the portrait did not look too "chalky" On darker surfaces, one must be very careful not to go too light too fast. You must plan, evaluate your colors and values and make accurate decisions. Some students want to acheive perfection too fast and too easily. It is work.

My marks with my pastel are very personal and have a style (just like handwriting) and I try not to lose them as it is part of me and my artistry. When I work in oil however, I seem to lose that naturally unless it is an oil sketch.

This is a little pastel I did in class that was of a model who was a 14 yr old daughter of one of Dan's students . The mom's name was Joyce. This pastel was not a portrait but more than a three quarter view of the young girl. The body position told a story and the age of the model revealed. Even though the head size was small and just a profile, I took great care to make sure her likeness was precise. I have always taken great pride in my drawing accuracy and the ability to achieve a likeness as well as an emotion. Once again I chose to work on paper much darker than middle tone so my challenge was to not use too many lights and to creep up on my lighter tones with intense darks and middle tones, paying close attention to both warm and cools.

This is me, my dear friend Lillian and Joyce (and my son Adam peeking out of the screen door. This is a little cottage that Joyce and her children rented in Cape Cod during the time she also studied with Dan in Gloucester. Lillian Updike rented out space in my Gloucester Cottage one summer for 2 weeks and stayed for 6 weeks. Lillian and I hit it off big time and her southern accent, hospitality, caring , dedication and thoughtfulness made us friends for life that summer.

One day Lillian and I thought it might be a good idea to drive from Gloucester down to Provincetown in Cape Cod to meet Henry Hensche, the famous colorist who studied with Charles Hawthorne.We called Joyce to make sure we could stay overnight with her.  I called ahead of time to make an appointment with Hensche and we planned a weekend of exploration and art learning. My sons, Adam and Aaron came with us so I rented "roller skates" for them in Provincetown to keep them moving and out of trouble. I thought that if they were mobile and moving fast they would have little time to think of anything else! 

We arrived in Provincetown and drove past Hensche's house to make sure we knew the directions before our appointment. Out side in the garden, was an elderly but fit man who was bare chested and golden brown from the sun.  I stopped the car and Lillian rolled down her window and asked if he was Henry Hensche? He replied "In the flesh" and proceeded to give us a lecture on eating organic carrots. He claimed that it made a difference in how an artist could see color." If you study with me" he said "you must eat lots of carrots"  After rolling up the window of the car, Lillian and I drove off laughing with amazement of our first meeting with him.

At the designated hour (and after checking on my roller skating sons) Lillian and I returned to Hensche's house and studio to have our appointment with him. It was really my appointment to show him my portfolio and get some feedback. His lovely wife met us at the door and offered each of us tea in the waiting room filled with many Charles Hawthorne drawings and paintings.  As we waited our turn, there was a nervous young New York gentleman who went before us to show his portfolio to the master colorist. We could hear the loud voice of the master artist critiquing the young artist and by the end of the dissertation, he told him he should just give it up and find another profession! OUCH!

I went in next to Hensche's studio to show him my work (mostly portraits) and as he looked at them carefully, he commented about the good drawing and made a positive sound with an HMMMM. Then he said "You studied with Elmer Greene with that garish color !" He encouraged me to study with him and of course eat more carrots!

If you look at Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown and check out the history, You will learn much more about this historical figure in our American Art history.

In fact it was during these few short years beginning with the loss of Norman Rockwell in 1978, We lost these amazing American Artists:

• Norman Rockwell
• Ives Gammel
• Emile Gruppe
• Robert Brackman
• Laos Marcos
• and finally Henry Hensche

Lillian and knew it would be special to meet Hensche and to see what he was like and to get a critique by him was frosting on the cake.

Lillian Updike and I spent many times together after our Dan Greene studies and I will talk about them in later blogs.Lillian has "never retired" to Brevard, NC and has a breathtaking studio and paints for herself in her youthful eighties! Her brilliant and accomplished surgeon husband Eddie spends his days on their idyllic little farm and he naps in the barn after reading his books with the lovely animals they have acquired.

" Lessons the art student and the artist must learn" -Flashback Friday #5

Pastel Painting called "Bird Wall" and in the process of painting this, I learned a very important lesson.

When studying with Daniel Greene in his large classes, art students felt a great deal of pressure on the first day of each two week period as it was the day to call off your name and or number (in a sort of lottery) in order to choose your easel . If you were fortunate enough to have a last name at the beginning or end of the alphabet, you were more apt to have a better selection of spaces or easels to choose from. There was a morning model for 3 hours and an afternoon model for 3 hours. Two different models  for 14 days total in the same pose. So basically two paintings of figure or portrait would be completed in two weeks. In my opinion, it was really necessary for an art student to have at least 2 weeks of study.

Some hot shots would come into the class so intent on working fast and showing what they could do already that they missed the point of the study. It was to take time, study what you were looking at and who you were looking at and to take each step of the proportioning, composing, drawing the likeness, massing in the darks, middle tones and lights and building up the warm and cool and ochre colors finishing this process somewhere around the 14th day on each art work. I was relieved that my commitment was for an entire season and I could take my time and learn as much as I could in the time given and the expertise of my teacher.

When your name would be called off to go and select your easel for this two week period of time, there would be so much anxiety about picking the most artistic position of the model and the best view possible. Yes, I was one of those who always had such a tenseness about choosing the right spot for the best painting possible! I learned so many lessons that first summer with this process. Shamelessly I will share with you two lessons learned by me.

One fine Monday morning about 45 anxious art students gathering in the third floor Gloucester Studio for the morning lottery and with all of them carrying boxes of pastels, oil painting boxes, canvas', brushes and pastel paper and boards, I noticed that almost all of the easels were taken by the time my name was called out . I was so upset and thoroughly convinced myself that I could not find one more spot in that studio that would suffice for me to succeed in the making of a painting. So I quietly took a vacant easel along the side of a wall and put it completely opposite of the entire class of 45 people.

I found a dead pheasant hanging on a wall in the place and thought to myself, poor me I will just paint a dead bird and Dan might notice I did not secure a good place in class.  I was upset, and felt badly about my position but I took out my pastels and set up my supplies for my drawing. The more I studied that pheasant the more that I saw. I saw it's shadows (all three of them) on the wall and also the warm and cool color differences within each of them. I put in the lines of the wood work on the wall and the wing span of the bird  so delicately flaring out in the air. By the third day, Dan finally walked over to me all alone working with my back to the rest of the class and I expected him to say something about my choice and ask me why? Instead, he calmly approached me with his methodical and orderly comments about the accuracy of my drawing and my ability to see and put down the triple shadows there and continued right down the line giving me a thorough and informative critique of my work. I had forgotten all about the easel I did not get in class for the posed model. I found beauty and life in something completely different and expressed it with discipline and skill and a good composition. Dan taught me lessons in art and in life over and over again and I learned so much about my attitudes and prejudgements and frustrations.

In those days, learning a lesson just once was never enough for me. I needed  to learn it 2, 3, 4, or even 5 times before it really made an impression on me.

Here is another time I was totally crushed to find myself without what I thought was a good view of our model. Here we had a full length nude model and I was given a totally back view of the model almost completely in shadow with hardly a glimpse of her face! I thought, How bad could this get? I begrudgingly set myself up at my easel with the uninspiring view of the model and began to draw and proportion out the figure from head to toe. Needless to say after the third day, studying my subject intensely I saw things I had never seen or observed before. I saw such an array of warm and cool colors within the dark shadows, I carefully drew her hands and feet with loving care and their delicacy put me into a state of mind beyond belief. I continued each day with enthusiasm and inspiration that grew from nothing.

To add to this story was the fact that my 12 or 13 yr old son Aaron was with me for that month of study and I signed him up for a "whale watching class" at the Gloucester's Whale Museum just a few blocks away from the studio. I tried to keep my son busy while I was working to keep him out of trouble and learning something. He went to the museum each day for two weeks and the finale was a real boat trip out in the ocean to see the whales!

One day at lunch time, he came to the studio to meet me and have lunch together and our figure model I had been working on each day emerged from the model's stand wearing nothing but her birthday suit and guess what? Our model was my son's whale watching teacher from the museum!! He didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to say but "Hi. I am Aaron's mother"

Aaron's trip on the high seas with my good camera to capture the whales jumping out of the waters turned out to be a sickening experience for him as he was very sea sick during his final exam at Whale Watching School!

This pastel figure painting was accepted into a national juried exhibition in upstate New York around 1980 and it never returned from the exhibition. It was stolen!

Anyone ever see this painting? If so please let me know. I would love it back.