the atelier method
THE FINAL PORTRAIT F
To conclude our five-part atelier-style guide to drawing and painting, Lavender Hill Studios’ Nick Bashall talks us through a complete two-hour portrait painting demonstration. But first, fellow tutor Ann Witheridge underlines the importance of seeing
or this final article, our students gathered around to watch and learn, as my colleague Nick
Bashall completed a portrait painting demonstration. One can learn so much from seeing another artist at work, just as one can learn so much from looking at the paintings of the Old Masters. A knowledge and understanding of art history can be just as important as learning to handle a brush or mix colour. The term ‘self-taught’ can be a little deceiving; no one is truly self-taught.
BELOW Nick Bashall leads a portrait class at Lavender Hill Studios
They may have never studied with a dedicated art teacher but they will have most likely learned from books and been influenced in some way by another artist at some stage. (It would be an interesting experiment to see how a child’s visual language would develop without any preconceived ideas of how we translate what is before us by looking only at nature. As tempting as this experiment would be, it would be unkind on my daughters, particularly as there are too many good children’s illustrators out there!)
Demonstrations are key to our
teaching method at Lavender Hill Studios. And for those unable to go to live classes, transcripts such as the one that follows over the page can be equally informative, too. A finished painting can be exciting
but the methodology can be even more inspiring. Likewise seeing a painting by Velázquez or Sargent can inspire, uplift and sometimes even stupefy – how did this artist manage to achieve that? And though we are by no means anywhere near the level of
The Atelier Method
66 Artists & Illustrators
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