Terry Strickland Portrait Workshop at The Florence Studio, Fall of 2018!

I'm so pleased to announce that I'll be teaching again in Florence, Italy this fall. Here's a video created from a few clips one of the students took, (thank you Leslie) and other miscellaneous shenanigans from our trip last year.

I didn't have room to include pictures of the delicious gelato, so much great art, picture-postcard sunsets, our wonderful hosts, and the food, oh the food. You'll have to experience those for yourself.

Dates: Oct 1-5, 2018 - 
The Florence Studio

What: Oil Painting Portrait Workshop
5 days instruction Mon-Fri 10am-3:30pm

Price: 875 Euros, 50% non-refundable deposit due at time of registration. That price includes model fees. Students are responsible for their own airfare and accommodations. Register through The Florence Studio or Email me for more info at terrystr@terrystricklandart.com

About the workshop: This is a back to basics, oil painting, portrait class working from a live model. All skill levels are welcome from beginning to advanced. We will spend the first two days working on drawing, value and color mixing. The last three days we will put it all together in a painting of a single pose. I will give step-by-step demonstrations and individual easel to easel critiques. Most of all it's going to be fun!

Have you seen my TEDx Birmingham talk about empathy and realism?

The Florence Studio Painting Workshop

I'm so pleased to announce I'll be teaching a workshop at The Florence Studio, in Florence, Italy, my first international class.

What: 5-6 day Holiday Workshop
5 days instruction Mon-Fri 10am-3pm with one-hour lunch break with some afternoon and Saturday group activities in Florence with our host, sculptor, and co-owner/operator, of The Florence Studio, Frank Rekrut.

Dates: Oct 9-13, 2017

Price: 875 Euros, 50% non-refundable deposit due at time of registration. That price includes model fees. Students are responsible for their own airfare and accommodations. Email me at terrystr@terrystricklandart.com or Laura at The Florence Studio, theflorencestudio@gmail.com to register

About the workshop: This is a back to basics, oil painting, portrait class working from a
live model.

All skill levels are welcome from beginning to advanced. We will spend the first two days working on drawing, value and color mixing. The last three days we will put it all together in a painting of a single pose. I will give step-by-step demonstrations and individual easel to easel critiques.

Most of all it's going to be fun! As of now, I think there are two spots open.

This is from a quick demo I did at the Portrait Society of Atlanta, last year. 

Here is one of my latest studio paintings. David and Bathsheba, 36x58, oil on canvas over panel, 2016.

See you in Florence.

How to Paint Alla Prima Flowers

I've had these Amaryllis bulbs for years. They were at the house in Florida that we moved to three weeks before my son was born. Then they made the move to Alabama with us. They are a part of our late winter / early spring experience every year.

They have multiplied like crazy over the years and most of my gardener friends have some of their babies. I've never painted them. I guess because flower paintings aren't really my thing. Maybe I'm just being contrary. It seems like women are expected to paint flowers, so meh...I've just not been interested. Don't get me wrong I love other artist's paintings of flowers. And admire people that do them really well. 

But I wanted to do a figure painting featuring Amaryllis and realized I needed to do a couple studies. It turned out to be super fun. And you know if I had to pick a favorite color, it'd be red, so it wasn't like it was torture. So here's how it went.

Of course, I like a little dramatic lighting so I moved the flowers into the studio. 

I started working with Burnt Umber, Rembrandt, thinned a bit with Gamsol, odorless mineral spirits. I was working on a 20x16 RayMar panel. I used a large fan brush and a #2 filbert for some drawing. I did a rub out with a T-Shirt rag. 

I immediately, while everything was still wet, began laying in the colors. I worked from the background to the foreground and from darks to lights. It's important to work while everything is wet so you can get those really soft edges. 

Scarlet in Winter, 20x16, oil

Reds can be tricky to paint. Many people add white and then they have a pink flower. It's best to avoid white but change the pigments you are using. I used mostly Rembrandts like Scarlet, adding Permanent Madder Deep and other transparent dark colors like Ultramarine Blue Deep, Viridian, or Thalo Greens to darken and adding various Cadmium Reds in the light areas. There might also be some Pyrolene Reds too.

I was mostly using a large fan brush. I used a Ruby Satin Filbert at times on the edges where I wanted it even smoother like the flower stalks.

I used thinner paint in the shadows and heavier paint in the light. This really gives a sculptural quality to the painting. Also,  I was very careful to keep the values close and in a dark range in the shadow. That way they just fall away the right amount.

The next day, I came back and added a few of the more orange-red heavy paint details.

This painting is all dressed up for a new forever home. Email me at terrystr@terrystricklandart.com if you're interested in inviting her into your home. She is available for $1900, framed and free shipping in the continental US. 

Fall Sepia Oil Sketch Sale and How To Paint Your Own

Fall Sepia Oil Sketch Sale
$275 Framed - Free Shipping in the US, $20 international shipping. Sales tax applies in AL, USA - email me at terrystr@terrystricklandart.com for arrangements.

Add One to Your Collection!

Art Lesson Du Jour : (or how'd she do that?)

The method I've used in these little life-studies has more in common with sculpture or watercolor than with more traditional methods of oil painting. 

Here's why: I first block in the general shape of the figure in a fairly solid area of paint. I imagine it as a big chunk of marble. I'm looking for a pleasing composition and the correct general proportions of the figure. 

 
Kelsey on Tuesday, 14x11, oil on linen over panel

I then use a piece of soft T-shirt fabric to rub out the light areas, leaving the dark. It's this reductive method that is much like a sculpture carved from a block of stone, where bits of clay are chipped off, rather than an additive method where pieces of paint, or clay in sculpture, are added to the artwork to build up the form.

Anders on Tuesday, 14x11, oil on panel

The white of the canvas is utilized for the lighter values, rather than adding white to make the paint lighter. In that respect, this method is similar to watercolor where the white of the paper is reserved for lighter areas. Mid-tones are built by allowing more or less of the white of the canvas to shine through the paint. For that reason, I would only use a transparent or semi-transparent paint to do a rub-out. 

Claire Sits 14x11, oil on panel

Toward the end of the painting, I will add a few strokes of thinker paint for darker accents but only use the one color, burnt umber. At this point, I could add full color but I think these sepia studies are beautiful and sometimes choose to leave them as they are.

I've been practicing these little sketches for years at a weekly life drawing group. They're so much fun, and I find they are great exercises for understanding the human form and values. I then apply that knowledge in my studio work, which also starts out with a burnt umber rub-out underpainting. So artist friends give this watercolor/sculpture painting method a try! 

The studies are framed in a wood frame painted in an espresso color.

 

If you're an artist in Birmingham, AL, consider joining us on Tuesday nights at Forstall Art Center, 6-9 pm for X's 8, ( pronounced Times 8) nude life drawing group. $10 per session or $35 for the month. 

How to Self-Critique Your Art

Art Lesson Du Jour

Spend Less Time on the Ropes to Make Better Work
(dedicated to my champion students)

Fact: It's a simple truth that every painting and drawing are a series of corrections. 

When taking a jab at art, each mark is our best guess in relationship to the other marks we've made. It's the best mark we can make right then, at that moment in time. We make it knowing full well that it is likely to change, and that's ok. Later in the process we will know better. 

Problem: Panic, strong emotions, and harsh self-criticism will defeat the creative process. 

I often see students in a knock-down, drag-out with themselves when things aren't going well in a drawing or painting. Their critique of the work becomes a criticism of self. It's easy to allow the critical voices of one's insecurities or the nasty voices of others into your head. I've been there and done that as well. Trust me, when you let those guys talk, no constructive critique is going on! 

When I see my students hitting below the belt I say, "Hey, don't talk to my student that way," "Would I say that to you?" or "Would you say that to anyone else in your life?" Of course the answer is always "No!"

Panic too can creep in during frustrating moments. We live a fast paced life with instant gratification and the sheer time required to look and see properly can make an artist feel panic. The brain is constantly yelling, "This is taking too long." We feel certain that everyone else is figuring this stuff out with more agility and speed than we are.

All this self-doubt and emotional thinking clog up the creative process, so that's why it's important to have a strategy in place. 

Your brain without a plan.

Solutions: Click READ MORE  below for answers. 

Alla Prima Still Life Workshop

I'm teaching a workshop Saturday, June 13, 2015 at Shelby County Arts Council in Columbiana Alabama. All skill levels are welcome. The workshop is almost full - just a couple spots left. You may register HERE. 

Alla Prima, quick sketch paintings done in a single session, is an art form unto itself. Here's a sneak peek at some in-progress pictures of the type of small,  jewel like paintings we'll be doing.

Basic block-in

See more pictures and information below the break.

Terry Strickland Oil Painting Class

I have one spot open in my ongoing painting class at Forstall Art Center, here in Birmingham, AL.

Here is some basic info about the class:

WHEN: Tuesday mornings, 9:30-12:30. Forstall Art Center

FORMAT: My knowledge is your knowledge! I use a one room school house type class, where there are students of varying skill levels. This approach seems to work well, as everyone gains when hearing critiques from each others work. Those back to basics concepts that we continually revisit help strengthen everyone's work.

There will be demos and exercises working from still life or photographs, occasionally we have a model. These will focus on using oil paint to create the illusion of reality and in general every aspect of the drawing and painting process. It's amazing the things you can create when your "artistic skills" tool box is full of many tools! The class is small enough that you'll get feedback one on one while everyone is working on their own paintings. The good thing is it's always fun!

PRICE: $200 for six classes. (plus one make-up if you have an absence during the six weeks)

~The class will be paid for in 6 week segments, with one make-up class allowed. 

~Class size will be limited to 8

~The class will run continuously.

I also teach an afternoon class that is currently full with a short waiting list. Maybe my B'ham art types are sleepy heads.

Check out my posts about some of the kind of projects we do in the class. 

You may email me at strcklnd@bellsouth.net if you are interested or have any questions. Or call me at 205 529-9859

How to Varnish an Oil Painting

I use Gamvar varnish and a Liquitex Freesyle brush, 4 inch.

Prior to Gamvar I do one very thin coat of Galkyd, thinned a bit with OMS. This acts as a first coat of varnish but but is actually a medium and will bond with the paint layers of the painting.

It can still be painted back into if you see something that needs work and allows you to continue to modify the painting. It evens out the sunk in (dull) areas of the surface so that it will take the varnish nicely.

Here's a video I made of the Gamvar varnish application.

Alla Prima

I'm practicing for another Face Off live painting demo. This time at Principle Gallery's Charleston location, April 4, 2014, 5-8pm. I'll be painting alongside Rachel Constantine and Alia El-Bermani from the same model. The event is free and open to the public. Please stop by and see us!

This is a painting I did last week. I thought everyone might enjoy seeing a few shots of the piece in progress. This is an alla prima process which means that it was painted in one sitting. Alla Prima is Italian and literally means "at once." I apologize for the less than adequate iPhone images.

This was after one 20 minute session. I try to get the head the right size, decide the placement of the features and notice the areas of shadow and light. I'm blocking in with burnt umber slightly thinned with my medium mixture of linseed oil/OMS in a 60/40 ratio.

Next I continued working on the umber shapes. I rubbed out the reflected light with a T-Shirt. I blocked in the light areas noticing the peculiarities of the shapes, and varied the color slightly where I saw big changes.

During this session I continued making adjustments to the shadow and light shapes. I brought the hairline down and worked on the shape of the face. Between this step and the final I had one more session that I forgot to shoot :(

Meghan in a Cool Mood, 20x16, oil sketch on canvas board.

All told, it was a 3 hour model session. With breaks, we had five 20 minute sessions of actual time with the model.

Alla Prima Pros:
Alla prima painting is an entirely different style of painting than my studio work. I highly recommend it. I think it's fun, exhilarating and it has made me a better painter. It improves confidence with a brush and decision making, because, let's face it, there's no time to ponder a particular shade of pink! Just get something down that is close and move on.

Time Distortion:
One very strange thing I've noticed about these sessions is that the first 20 minutes seems very long, and with each successive session, time seems to go faster and faster. It's a very strange phenomenon because the feeling is so pronounced. I'm used to getting "in the zone" while I work but it feels different. Maybe it's because the timer's interruption causes artificial breaks rather than times when I'm naturally coming out of the zone, like bathroom or food breaks or some body part or another has gone to sleep.

The time passing faster is a lot like life, isn't it? Time seems to pass faster all the time as we age and it's the same with the life of each of these little sketches.

Other tid bits:
~The canvas is Frederix Belgian Linen Paint Board.
~It was stained with an acrylic wash in burn umber.
~I use almost exclusively Rembrandt oil paints, and Silver & Rosemary brushes.

I invite you to follow me on Tumblr and on Instagram. Click Alla Prima to see my other posts on the this fun subject.

Enjoy! See you in Charleston. 

Alla Prima Still Life Demo

Last Saturday, Oct 19, 2013, I did a painting demo at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. I teach oil painting there on Tuesday mornings. Here a quick video of the demo!

"Southern Still Life", 20x16, oil on linen.

9 Plein Air Painting Tips and A Packing Check List

Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days plein air painting down at Sugar Beach in Grayson State Park, in Florida. The painting conditions were perfect; a cool breeze, very few people, the shade of a pavilion and a red wing blackbird singing all day for company.

My Top 9 Plein Air Painting Tips

Here are few helpful hints to consider when choosing a location, a subject and progressing through the painting process.

Lavender Shadows on Sugar Beach, 9x6, on on oil primed linen

1. Scout out locations ahead of time if possible. Consider crowds, wind, angle of the sun, shade and the closest bathroom if you plan on painting for very long.

2. Set up in the shade to avoid the glare of the sun on the painting's surface. Think of where the sun is and where it will be in a couple of hours. Look for a spot out of the wind. 

3. Think about your physical comfort. Bring extra clothes, standing in the shade for a few hours can get chilly. Gardening gloves with the fingers cut out are great for keeping hands warm. (59 degrees standing still for hours in the shade is cold!) Hats, bug spray, sun screen, etc. (See below for a list of supplies to pack for your comfort)

Click Read More below for the rest of the tips and a packing check list.

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features Part 4

Today, the mouth.

This is an ongoing series that is building up to a full portrait that I'm doing with the oil painting class I teach at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. If you are joining in for the first time for this post check out  Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, to catch up.

I begin by finding the mid-point and the quarter-mark for my image to correctly locate it on the page.

I'm checking angles to block in the overall width and height of the lips.
Click Read More to see important drawing concepts below the break.

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features Part 3

The nose knows.

I did this drawing in class, while discussing the structure of the nose.

You may find the first 2 parts of this series about painting facial features, in which I demoed drawing and painting the eye,  here at Part 1, and Part 2.

This was one of several reference photos that I presented to my class. 

Key points to look for:
Click Read More to see the rest of the post. 

More Alla Prima Portraits, or Face Off Warm-up Post 3

More Face-Off warm up. 20 minute sessions. You may see my first couple of practice post here and here. Enjoy...I did!

In the first 20 minutes I did a line drawing using burnt umber paint straight out of the tube. My canvas is a Fredrix, Pro, Belgian Linen, previously stained with Gamblin Fast Matte, in a combination of transparent earth red and ultramarine blue.

During the second 20 minutes I added a little background, placed the nose, lips and started laying in the chin and neck.
Click Read More to see the rest of the in-progress pictures below the break.

More Alla Prima Portraits

Still practicing up for the Face-Off at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA on August 16, 2013, from 6-9 pm. Here's a post about my first set of alla prima practice pieces.

Next on the easel was my future son-in-law, Will. Will was also my model for The Mariner, The Incognito Project. 

In the first 20 minutes I did a line drawing using burnt umber paint straight out of the tube. My canvas is a Fredrix, Pro, Belgian Linen, previously stained with Gamblin Fast Matte, in a combination of transparent earth red and ultramarine blue.

More about my pre-mixed flesh color palette here. 

During the second 20 minutes I added a little background, placed the nose, lips and started laying in the beard.
Click Read More to see the rest of the in-progress pictures below the break.

The Alla Prima Portrait - Ten Thousand Hours

I've been practicing for the Face-Off event that is happening at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA on August 16, 2013, from 6-9 pm.

It will be a live painting demo at the gallery in which I'll be painting the same model as Mia Bergeron, Cindy Procious and Rachel Constantine. We did it last year and it was super fun! DC area artist Suzanne Lago Arthur did a great post about the event last year on her blog.

Photo by Suzanne Arthur Lago from last year's event.

Nothing like the prospect of painting with a bunch of super talented artists in front of a live audience to inspire one to practice!

In an attempt to sharpen up my alla prima (all in one sitting) oil sketching skills, here's what I've been up and what I've been figuring out.

Dan, 20x16, oil on canvas

More about the set up, the painting process and other sketches below the break.

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features Part 2

It's all about the eyes and mixing flesh tones this week.

This a project I'm doing with the oil painting class I teach on Tuesday mornings at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. We are doing small studies of each facial feature. Eventually we will do a complete portrait with the skills gained by studying the features individually. Here's Part 1 in which I drew the eye.

In the last post, the painting was at this stage.  My disclaimer here is that this is just what I do. There are many different methods out there but this is what I have developed over the years. It works for me.

I am constantly trying new things but for now this is my go-to starting place. I develop 4 basic flesh tones. Having a method helps me and seems to help my students.

Artist's Top 9 Signs You Are In Love

...with your new painting that is.

Starting a big, new piece is like falling in love for the first time.

Athena (working title), 47x32, oil on canvas over panel

1. You're excited, inspired and smile like an idiot!
2. You enjoy spending silent time together.
3. You can't wait to introduce your family to it.
4. You daydream about it.
5. You fight, you make up.
6. You think about it first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
7. You just can't get enough, no matter how much time you spend together.
8. You forget to eat when you are together.
9. Your friends say they miss you.

Oh yeah, I'm twitterpated. It must be Spring!

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How to Mount an Oil Sketch

I do oil sketches sometimes on unstretched canvas or canvas paper from a pad. Since quick oil sketches can be sketchy with their success rate, it's an inexpensive solution. Of course, if you have to mat and frame them under glass, there go any savings you may have had.

But what to do with the successful ones you'd like to frame? I mount them on acid-free foam core so that I can varnish, and frame like any other painting on a panel.

What you need:

~A sketch you think worthy of framing, (the hard part)
~A clean flat space to work on (also a challenge in a busy studio, this table is in the thinking corner of my studio, and I keep a clean sheet around for projects like this)
~Acid-free foam core, about 1 inch larger than your piece
~Old but clean piece mat board or foam core larger than your painting (I used the back of an old canvas board)
~An extra piece of mat board or foam core larger than your piece
~An Exacto knife
~Rubber brayer
~Drafting brush or clean Swiffer
~Ruler
~Lineco pH Neutral PVA Glue
~Heavy books
~Old paint brush
~Dartek Plastic Film, Glassine or sheet clean plastic
~Self healing mat or cardboard to cut your foam core on

Click Read More below to see the directions.

Gesture Speed Painting

This week at drawing group I played around with doing the 5 minute gesture poses with paint and it was sloppy fun.

I used Bienfang Graphics 360 Marker Paper, 12x9, and Rembrandt burnt umber thinned with a little medium that was a mixture of linseed oil/OMS in about a 60/40 ratio.

The description of the paper is "Graphics 360 is a 100% rag, non-bleeding, translucent marker paper. It retains true color with permanent as well as watercolor markers." I think the paper is considered archival but not sure if the oil paint will have an affect on how archival the piece will be. More research needed.

I really liked the way it handled. The wetness soaked into the paper slow enough that I was able to rub out some forms, yet the paper did not buckle. I've used canvas paper before and it was too thirsty. It soaked in so fast that the rubbing out did not work well.

If I decide to finish these off I'll matt them and frame like a drawing.

I plan to experiment with the new arches oil painting paper and find some vellums to try. If you have anything you like to work on let me know. I'm looking for something not too expensive since coming up with a winner while speed painting 2-5 minute gestures poses is hit or miss.