Portraits Intermediate to Advanced with Mathew Lynn / 1 Day Workshop

Suitable for intermediate to advanced students.

Join award-winning portrait artist Mathew Lynn as he helps you to consolidate your existing portrait practice, and with expanding your understanding and insight with what is possible in the portrait form.

Mathew will start by encouraging a lively discussion on the history of portraiture, from the great Egyptian Fayum portraits all the way to the contemporary. This will give everyone a chance to share their experience, discoveries and insights.

He will then give a brief overview of portrait drawing techniques and the importance of preliminary sketches to help you understand composition, proportions and facial features. He will also discuss how to achieve likeness and personality.

Some students may like to explore contemporary approaches, looking at ways to transform their traditional practice. Mathew can help you with processes to explore this.

Please bring in a number of A4 prints of faces and people that appeal to you, Mathew can also help you choose the best to work from. You can also bring your images on a tablet. Make sure the images are on your phone as well, in case we need to print them again, or make crops for optimal compositions! You can also bring in existing works for help and guidance.

Mathew will go on to discuss colour mixing and tones, and the important pigments to use for portraits so you can have complete control over your flesh tones. He will also discuss various painting techniques, including blocking in and refinement with erasure, building up body to achieve the quality of flesh, understanding the different textures of the face and head, and how to replicate them with a variety of brush techniques.

Mathew will also give a painting demonstration in the afternoon to explain the techniques he has discussed.

This workshop will be a great chance for you to establish a strong set of portrait skills that can give you confidence when you want to push yourself with something more challenging, and Mathew’s workshops are always a place for lively conversation and encouragement from fellow students!

Materials List

If you haven’t painted before (or not very much), start by choosing a particular medium and work your way through each detailed list. The main colours below are crucial for portraits and flesh, but are also good for basic rendering of most things, and you can augment with your own favourites.

Some notes on the importance of all the disciplines:

It’s very important to know that all the disciplines work together in a circular way to make you a better artist! Still Life teaches you rendering of objects and the differences within objects, which for example will help you with landscapes in understanding the difference between the upper and lower parts of trees. Rendering will help you with portraits, but portraits require a certain precision in understanding the interrelated scale of shapes and features and how they need to work together, this precision will help you in every discipline in terms of control and placing things exactly where you want them, including in abstraction. Without experience in abstraction, you will be closed off to the dimension of interpretation and transformation in your still life, and so on.

Drawing & Studies

Mathew likes his students to always have sketching materials on hand to make initial studies and to help when a work gets stuck, it’s usually the first thing he’ll ask you to do. Try at the very least to have a sketchbook and pencils, but colour studies are sometimes a better way to resolve something, so a small gouache or watercolour set and a cheap water media pad can be great to have on hand. You can also just do small colour studies with your oils or acrylics on oil sketch paper or cheaper water media paper. You may also be a dedicated drawer, so just bring in all your normal equipment.

Follow this guide below (you don’t need everything!), sketchbook and pencils being the most important.

• A4 Sketchbook or paper

• Pencils - bring in a range such as H, B, 2B, 6B

• Staedtler rubber (we will also trim this into wedges for precision removals)

• Knife for sharpening

• 30cm Ruler (only if you think you’d like to use a grid)

• Any other drawing materials you like, such as charcoal, Conte Crayon etc.

• Gouache or Watercolour set (or just your oils or acrylics)

• Water media pad such as Art Spectrum Draw & Wash Pad 210gsm

• Oil sketch pad such as Canson Figueras 290gsm

• A larger cheap Cartridge Pad can also be great for big loose process sketches and practicing marks, particularly for abstraction.

Oil Painting

Note: you must use an odourless system for oil mediums and solvents!

Colours: (essential for rendering basic skin tones, but also most things)

• Titanium White

• Ivory Black

• Ultramarine Blue (make sure you have standard Ultramarine)

• Yellow Ochre (Yellow Oxide)

• Indian Red (Red Oxide that has a purple hue, Red Oxide is also fine)

• Burnt Umber

• Alizarin Crimson (or cheaper equivalent)

• Cadmium Red (or cheaper equivalent)

• Cadmium Yellow Light (or cheaper equivalent – if in doubt bring Lemon Yellow)

• Phthalo Blue

• Phthalo Green

Also, these additions can be very useful (or any other colours you like):

• Cadmium Orange (or cheaper equivalent)

• Cobalt Blue (or cheaper equivalent)

• Magenta

Art Spectrum is a good basic artist quality range.

You don’t need to buy the expensive version of a particular colour, but you will notice the difference because there is more pure pigment ground into the oil and packed into the tube, so each tube will go further.

Oil Brushes:

It is crucial to have a good range of brushes for a variety of marks and purposes. Oil painters need more brushes because it’s best to keep each colour you use on a separate brush, especially for the areas that require more detailed work where you are painting multiple colours and tones. It’s important to avoid the habit of cleaning one brush each time you want to change colour.

You will also use different brushes at different stages of the painting. For example, when ‘blocking in’ at the start of a painting, you will use large brushes (cheap ones are better) that will help you sketch the composition in quickly, and that you can be a bit rough with. Later on, you will move on to more precise brushes to paint details, these ones you can spend a bit more money on.

As a guide you should always try to use the biggest brush possible for a particular passage of painting, this will build your fluency and sense of energy and mark making in your work, and will stop you from getting bogged down unnecessarily. In time you will develop your favourite range, and specific types for specific things!

Note: Oil painting brushes are larger and have a different numbering system to the shorter handle watercolour brushes, your local art shop will be able to explain this to you.

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In general, it’s good to have this range of sizes and numbers which you can spread across the various types of hog bristle brush, described below.

• #12 x 1

• #10 x 1

• #8 x 2

• #6 x 2

• #4 x 2

• #2 x 2

• #1 x 2

As a simple guide, the big brushes (#12 & #10) can be Cheap Hog Bristle ROUND, and the remainder can be a mixture of cheap and better quality Hog Bristle ROUND and Hog Bristle FILBERT.

Brushes are a big investment - you will probably do most of your general to detailed painting with #6, #4 and #2, so as long as you can keep colours separate in this range, washing other brushes as you go in class can work, and you can keep your costs down.

For Still Life, Hog Bristle FILBERTS will give you more control and mark variety than anything else for this ‘detail’ range (#6, #4, #2). You may like them for Portraits also.

Brush Types:

Cheap Hog Bristle ROUND – you can actually paint most things with this type predominantly in your range, but they can be very difficult with details, and it depends on the marks you like to make. A round brush is much more versatile generally, and these cheaper ones can be used for most of your blocking-in and preliminary work, which can be more punishing on brushes. They also have a very rounded shape, so can be excellent later on as a dry brush and cheap blender for manipulating the wet paint surface.

Good Quality Hog Bristle ROUND – the most versatile brush, because the better quality ones come with a pronounced point. They can be very gestural and expansive, and then very accurate for finer marks from moment to moment, which will help you with your fluency and speed. Sometimes on good days you may find yourself using very few brushes, helped by the versatility of your brush.

Good Quality Hog Bristle FILBERT – this is a fantastic brush combining a rounded shape with a chisel profile like flat brushes. It’s good to have a some of these in your medium to small sizes. They can make nice sharp points and lines, as well as soft shapes. Some people might like to use them exclusively for details, and even large ones for blocking in.

Cheap or Good Quality Hog Bristle FLAT – flat brushes can be very difficult, because you will always be fighting with the pronounced sharp chisel shape that they make, nevertheless it’s nice to have some of them for particular uses and tight corners, particularly the smaller ones in the range above. Some people like to paint exclusively with these types of marks, so it’s no problem if that’s your preference!

Synthetic Hog Bristle ROUND, FLAT or FILBERT – there are some extremely good brushes available made from a kind of synthetic hog bristle, you may like to try some of these also. They tend to be more expensive so you’ll want to look after them and keep them clean.

Water Media Synthetics in a variety of shapes – can be great for particular uses and types of oil painting, especially if you are working small, or your work is extremely fine, but they’re generally too soft to use with oil paint and will be VERY frustrating!

Please also bring any other brushes that you like to use! People working expressively and in abstraction will have their favourite brushes and implements for their personal mark-making.

Oil Mediums & Solvents:

Working in a class situation, we always need to use an odourless system when oil painting.

Quick-drying odourless medium and artist quality odourless solvent is often the easiest option, my personal favourite being Galkyd medium and Gamsol solvent by Gamblin.

Odourless solvent is relatively expensive in general, but Gamsol tends to be reasonably priced within the range available. You still need to be careful with odourless solvents as they still have low toxicity.

Oil Mediums help the pigment to stay bound when the paint is thinned out. But working with a medium can be very much about personal preference for the type of surface you’re after. Galkyd is essentially a glaze medium, and will potentially make surfaces very glossy depending how you use it. For certain types of exacting traditional painting you may want this, so you can see all the tones properly, but in expressive painting you might like for there to be beautiful variations of the paint surface, or for it all to be generally quite matte. This is where you can experiment with cutting the medium with solvent to maintain some binding quality, but to avoid glossiness.

Other mediums are also available to help with this, but it’s very much about your own personal experimentation and types of surfaces you’re after. There are also some completely non-toxic oil mediums available such as the Gamblin Solvent-Free Fluid Painting Medium.

You can simply use Artists Refined Linseed Oil as a medium (nearly every oil colour is ground in it), but the drying time is much slower, and it may hold you up while you’re waiting for it to dry.

Or, you may simply be a painter that just uses the paint as is, with an impasto technique.

In my studio I still use Mineral Turps for brush cleaning (with a respirator) because there is often a large pile to wash! I also use a proper Oil Brush Washer with a raised grill, so the heavy pigment is separated. They are lidded so you can keep fumes to a minimum.

Other Oil Painting Materials:

• Palette - could be disposable, but it’s better and far less frustrating if it’s a modern rectangular board shape (roughly A3) or the traditional kidney shape - make sure your palette has plenty of mixing space. Two cheap pieces of prepared board in A3 size sitting on a table is just as good, the spare one can be handy when you run out of space but want to keep those colours on the first board going.

• Double Dipper - for separate medium and solvent. Get the open style with the widest openings so you can get your brushes easily in and out.

• Rags, paper towels - plenty of these

• Cotton buds - extremely helpful for subtle removal of paint in tight spots

• Spare containers - for solvent, or mixing things on the go.

• Palette knife - you may like to have couple of these in different shapes.

• Anything else you like to make marks with or push paint around, such as spatulas, scrapers etc.

• A canvas or canvas board (or a few of them) - oil painting paper is also fine, but can be more difficult to work on and transport.

• It is always a good idea to wear disposable Nitrile gloves (non-latex and tougher) when painting and handling oil paint and mediums, they’re at most supermarkets.

• Use your GAMSOL or odourless solvent for clean-up in class.

• You may also want to buy and bring in a stainless steel style oil brush washer with a sealable lid. They can be found at a reasonable price, and it means (if necessary) you can wash some of your brushes on the go properly, and also carry it without spills.

• I recommend taking your brushes home wrapped in glad wrap to clean and wash.

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Important!! - it’s best to clean brushes with solvent in a proper oil brush washer. You will notice a big difference between this and a jar of dirty turps where everything collects at the bottom. You can use cheaper Mineral Turps for this at home, but not in class.

Then wash brushes with simple soap like a Sunlight bar AFTER EVERY SESSION. Try not to come to class with hard brushes!

Quick drying mediums are very hard on brushes, so try not to let the paint stay in your brush unused for too long, especially on hot days. Cleaning on the go can help with this.

Acrylics

Colours - same advice as the oil colours above, but be aware that Acrylics sometimes don’t come in exactly the same colour names, such as the earth oxides. Matisse (Flow or Structure) are good artist quality options. Bring in your normal range and your favourites also!

Brushes – follow the basic range and advice above, but you’ll only need one of each size because you are constantly washing your brush. Stiffer bristle brushes are good with acrylics, but you may prefer to have predominantly synthetic brushes for more control (in long handle), at least for the brushes you use most.

Watercolour style brushes can work well for certain types of acrylic painting, for finer details, but you will still want brushes that have a certain stiffness so you can push your paint around and work with freedom and flow.

I find the Synthetic Hog Bristle Brushes mentioned above particularly wonderful for acrylic!

Bring any acrylic style brushes you like.

Medium – can be a basic Acrylic Painting Medium, Gel Medium, Impasto Medium etc. I personally like to use just water.

• Acrylic palette/s with a flat surface, or just an A3 piece of Perspex (and perhaps a second one), plenty of mixing space is always better.

• Spare containers and a water container

• Rags, sponges, paper towels, cotton buds, scraper, or anything else you like to use.

• A canvas or canvas board (or a few of them), you can also use heavy water medium paper

• I always like to have a cheaper water media pad (at least 210gsm) with me for quick colour studies and problem solving.

• You can also have an even cheaper Cartridge Paper Pad for fast process sketches and practicing marks you might want to make in your main painting.

Important! In class we need to discard the bulk of unwanted acrylic paint by scraping onto paper towel, not washing everything down the sink.

Watercolours & Gouache

• Gouache may have some different colour names but refer to the oil colour above for reference. I find Gouache wonderful for studies.

• Watercolour colours follow a different system and can be quite specific, favouring particular transparent pigments, but you can use any that you have, and Mathew can give you advice on this, or simply use a basic watercolour set and you should be covered.

• Appropriate palettes for colours and mixing

• Water container and extra containers for mixing

• Rags, paper towels, cotton buds

• Synthetic watercolour brushes in a range of sizes: fine, medium and a large.

Also a Mop type brush and a larger squirrel brush can be wonderful, and other water media brushes such as a wide flat brush. Bring all your favourites!

Remember that you are making a variety of marks - sometimes you are covering a large flat area, sometimes you’re working on fine details, at other times it’s nice to have a brush that is loaded up but with a very fine point to work expansively and with details at the same time.

• Watercolour paper or watercolour pad.

• Cheaper water media pads are also great to have around for experiments and to practice marks. Try an Art Spectrum Draw & Wash Pad 210gsm for studies, or an even cheaper Cartridge Paper Pad for fast process sketches and to practice marks.

Terms & Conditions

Please choose carefully as fees are non-refundable. Refunds of course fees will only be given if the course is cancelled or a place is not available in the course.

Payment of course fees implies that you have read and agree to the WAC Terms & Conditions.