I haven't a photo to post but I do have a question about this thread. I am not familiar with Open Studio procedure as we do not have anything like it here. Could you give me a quick run-down of it? Cost? How is the model paid, directly, by the students coming in, etc.. As I said, we have nothing such as this. An occasional instructor offering drawing, etc.. I love the idea of painting this quickly as I too can relate to the fact that I paint very tight and get real absorbed with detail. What a great thing to do. I lived in Chandler many moons ago. I realize that there are great opportunities there.

Thanks,
Patt

Scottsdale Artist's School
 

Open Studio is what they call it here. I used to call it open figure class, but it is basically through the school's facility and they offer a three hour classroom with the easels and horses for the workshops, a model stand for the model, a spotlight and a model. I believe the rate out here is $10-15 an hour.

Normally, when I was a student in Colorado, there were groups that might get together and hire a model and take up a collection to pay him/her. Normally it was nudes. Figure study and sketching to support anatomy studies, but the portrait studio is a really great innovation I was not familiar with.

The model had a timer and sits 20 with a five-minute break in the same pose all night.
I was in New York a year ago and the Art Student's League was exactly what it said, they had a place for students! We stopped into their open studio, which I believe was every afternoon at like 5 (I forget) and lasts 2 hours.

The way we pay at SAS is for $24 we get four tickets and can use them for the sessions. Students enrolled in a workshop are only $6 a session and single drop in price is $8. I think in New York we paid $10 for a morning, uninstructed studio but there were two models on either side of the room to chose from.

There is also a monitor in the League which was nice. There is nothing democratic about a group of artists! It is my opinion that the model should be the one who decides on the pose and set up because they have to hold it.

When I was in Colorado, the community college had one night of open studio. Sometimes it is not listed on the regular class schedule. I believe the University offered a few. To find them, hang out at bulletin boards... the ones with cork, not keyboards ;) in student unions or art stores. Long ago, I used to find them listed in the more or less counter culture newspapers etc..

Well, there is everything I know about open studio!

Thanks so very much Debra for your in depth description of an Open Studio. I sure will be searching for such a place. We are very rural here and the closest art store is 2 hours away and that would be a Michaels and maybe one other and the 2 hours in within another state.

You mentioned something that rang a bell.. Maybe I can spur a meeting with our local community college and see if there could ever be such arrangements. Also, we have Carnegie Hall ( one of the 4, I think 4 only) in our local town. It considers all the arts. Let me just mention that Friday at Carnegie I saw the most wonderful full length play written by LEONARD NIMOY titled Vincent. A one-man play about Van Gogh starring a wonderfully talented actor named Jim Jarrett. If you wish to check him out, it is at www.jarrettproductions.com, an awesome emotional play of the letters to Theo.

Thanks again.

I am planning on attending an Open Studio for painting from December to May at the Art Students League in Denver. It runs $90 per month for 8 sessions. It will be good practice for me as I get ready for Bill Whitaker's class.

;) Thanks Michael, for making the changes. I'm afraid that I unintentionaly post in the wrong places. It's good we all have you guys to help us through.

I finally opened my mail and found your message.

You say $90 mo. for 8 sessions? Wow, not bad at all. I will be talking to my local Community College or better yet, Carnegie Hall. The local art group has a room there where it meets every Thursday. I know in the past it has been a problem getting models for any of the artists here. The area I live in is a "late bloomer" so to speak as far as the arts go and the local people just do not always relate. Yes, among a few others, I am afraid that I am one of those odd persons who actually paints and will dare call it my work. Most who I have known for years still call it a pastime (compared to real work).

I would give anything to be able to go to one of Bill Whitaker's classes. I absolutly love his style. I am attending a week long class with David Weaver locally. He is also a member of this site.

Have fun, Michael at the Open Studio.

Sometimes just hiring your own model to come to your studio works better than an art school's "open studio" anyway.

The open studio sessions near me are run by a guy who always wants to put the model directly under a big skylight so there's always a lot of unattractive shadowing under the eyes, etc. He wouldn't listen to my suggestions to reposition the model.

Last time I went he hired a guy to model who had the ugliest haircut I'd ever seen. I've painted lots of models and often the ones who have an "interesting" look are the best anyway. I'm not looking for fashion models. But the most accomplished painter couldn't have made that particular model look appealing!

If you set things up in your own studio, you choose the model, you control the lighting, costuming, pose, duration of sittings, etc.

You can ask a friend to pose in exchange for an 8 x 10 photo of the finished painting. Many people are very flattered to be asked. Or you can contact local babysitters and pay them whatever the going babysitting rate is. This gives you good practice for kids' portraiture which is, after all, two-thirds of the portrait market.

Of course, it's always nice to meet and learn from other local artists and a real "open studio" is great for that, if you can find the right fit.

I just participated in my first Open Studio last night and boy was it fun! And frustrating. However, now I've caught the bug. It is MUCH more satisfying and challenging to draw from life than from a photo. Unfortunately, the one I attended only meets once a month at a local art center, and overall, seems to be run rather poorly. There was no model stand to speak of. The poor guy had to position himself on a folding table! Also, The spot lighting was poor and difficult to position for optimal light/shadow definition. But I suppose I shouldn't complain much. It was a mere $6 for two hours with a live model. I only wish it was available more often during the month. I instantly understood how frequent life drawing sessions would improve my skills. Given that I've only now at middle age, grown serious about my art, I don't have time to dawtle about.

Debra, I really like the idea which your group implements: A "portrait studio" in which the model assumes the same pose for twenty minutes at a time, with breaks in between. One might actually hope to complete a fairly finished drawing under those circumstances (I know I'm not one able to whip them out in 8 minutes flat, unlike our very talented, Lon).

Michele, the idea of hiring teens the going babysitting rate to sit for you is a wonderful idea! I plan to try it as soon as possible. What has been your experience with this?

A large open studio can be a detriment rather than a benefit. If you are too far from the model, or the model lighting is poor for your view, you will struggle. Also, if your drawing setup is unfamiliar and awkward, you will not benefit.

Before I was a public portrait artist, I used to get together with a few friends weekly and we would hire a model. It was better, smaller, and much more effective than a large group where you had no say in the lighting and pose. We had our own familiar tables, and environment. Having a consistent drawing envirnment for portrait drawing (lighting, distance from the model, board setup) is vital to getting a consistent likeness. Don't waste your money on a large open studio. Create one yourself!

I agree with Lon. Our wonderful local art school falls short when it comes to open studio time: they only use artificial light. My goal is to paint more from life in natural light, so I never go. Better to organize your own small group and set things up exactly the way you want.

I'll second that. I used to go down occasionally into Atlanta - it was a good deal - $7 for three hours, but they used a yellow toned artificial light and it was the same model every time I went.

If you are going strictly for drawing practice and not long poses, check with the art departments of local colleges. Our local community college has a great art teacher who actually teaches drawing well. Because the school founders might object to nude models, she took her class over to the local art museum. The neat part was, community members got to join the class twice a week, 2-3 hours each time for six weeks for a total of: $12.00! Believe it or not, only two community members took advantage of this great deal.

For figure drawing, it doesn't hurt to be a ways away. Being too close can create forshortening problems.

But for a portrait, I cannot see how you could benefit by being any farther away than ten feet at the most. Any farther than that and you are in for frustration. Why ask for trouble?

Consistency is really the key, I think, to developing a consistent drawing technique, whatever it may be. If you always have to change your drawing environment, it will be harder to be consistent in your drawing or painting.

I am never farther than 5' from my models, unless I am in a courtroom situation. But that is wretched drawing! Wretched!

But part of the thrill of studio is the Guerrilla aspect!

I have found I learn more under the less than perfect conditions. I have found myself with the light shining in my eyes and learned the elegance of back lighting. I had to train my eye to observe the colors in the shadows.

I have been far enough back to force myself to observe the planes, more than the details and what makes the likeness of a face, not the minutiae.

The exercise of sitting and observing a pose for hour after hour is the strategy you can develop of how to work against the fidget and straining muscles of the model.

I used to curse a blue streak that nobody was checking and correcting the model and then it hit me. THIS was luxury! When I was having people pay me to paint them, I know they were going to be less cooperative and much less focused. I learned to know where I was weakest and start with the structure. To decide where I wanted the eyes and nose as fast as I could and paint into that, what the model ended up doing.

I think all the stress of studio, with nothing at stake but enriching my experience, is never a waste of time.

I also enjoy the artificial light.

I assume I am the artist and it is my vision of the sitter that is going to set me apart. I have found a lot of my criticism of the studio situation or deficiencies of the model have DIRECTLY been the result of my own lack of experience as to what to do without their cooperation. I have learned how not to chase an eyeball all over a face. I have learned to pace myself and work from a beginning with a minimal effort to a middle with strong and well thought form and come to the last pose with a sense of what it will take to finish the face and save the genius strokes for exactly where they should be.

I find it a marvelous challenge. I love it the most when, after a grumpy full house of a class, I take the least attractive corner, plug myself in and have at least one novice tell me I lucked into the best position! It stretches me every time!

I am at the Palette and Chisel in Chicago. As a member ($360 / year) one has available 60 plus hours of model time a week ... FREE. Many of the long pose workshops are in the large north light studio.

Without access to this, I would never have been able to afford the model time necessary to develop as a painter in my formative years and even now, as I wish to develop something specific, I come down here and work it out from the model.

ps- out-of-towners are less than a $90 / year and can come in the Chicago with full benefits of open studio.

This one was done in a open studio at the P&C a few years back.

Cara 30" x 20" Charcoal on buff colored paper

Clayton, that is simply gorgeous.