Institute of Academic Realism-Mattelson
 

I hope you have read my lengthy "And then there was Marvin" post in the Cafe, before continuing on to read about my latest workshop.


Marvin not having the luxury of a fine art background started with an extremely successful (speaking as an art director here) career in illustration. This made him one of the most astute "detailists" that I have ever met. It also gave him them gumption for self-promotion. His illustration stories will make you laugh like crazy.

As he told us, he didn

I apoligize for the image being so dark, I thought I had corrected this.

Here is the close up of her face:

Here is an extreme close-up of her face.

The oil was painted 24" x 18".

Here is a close-up of the hands. I really knocked back the chroma and detail in the receding hands.

Here is an extreme close up of the left hand, I keep the detail simple but the colors more intense.

Just for likeness reference, I shot a quick black and white of our model Crystal.

We had three different models in the studio, and all worked from just one. This gave everyone a pretty good view. At first I was disappointed to have the profile again, but since I was doing more of a figure I think it came out nicely.

I hope others will now join in and show their work too! I will also get a web page up at my site this week so you can see more photos from the workshop. I will also try to post Marvin's demo.

Nice work Beth! Marvin has done you some real good it seems. :)

Thanks for posting this, Beth. Nice job, especially on the color.

Can you tell us what measuring tools Marvin uses? I've just begun to use some myself and find they really help me.

Beth,

Your painting looks great! And I have to say that Crystal, your model, is expecting a baby and had a pillow behind her back. :)

Renee

Thanks Beth for that posting and as I had told you at the workshop, I still think it is a great job done. I will need to develop my film soon to show mine of Crystal, that is if I get the nerve.

My experience with Marvin at the workshop has been one of absolute joy. Not only is Marvin a wonderfully funny, witty, charismatic person, he is also quite knowledgeable about the sharing and teaching process. To paint beautifullly and to teach well are attributes that not all possess who venture into this field of fine art. My hat is off to Marvin and I will indeed wish to study with him again. At least until I can conquer that palette of his. So-o-o- vibrant and luminescent.

I want to say a huge thanks to Renee and Denise for a job well done. I know this was a large undertaking and very stressful at times but I for one appreciate your gracious planning and hope we can do it again soon.

The highlight of my workshop was finally meeting those from this Forum with whom I have communicated for over a year now. But I must admit that the final stress factor was being placed between Beth and Tom Edgerton as we painted the model. Talk about intimidation of painting but I made it through and thank my lucky stars to have been part of it.

Shoot, Pat, no need for intimidation. You were knocking out a good one yourself. Plus, we were paid back with some real good company from you through the five days!

I can't recommend this workshop more highly. From the opening lecture to the final parting strokes, I got what I went for and then some. I don't get to paint from life nearly enough, and Marvin's tools and procedure for getting a solid preliminary drawing and wash-in are pretty near bulletproof. It gave me a confident foundation to explore what I had come to learn about: the PALETTE! Derived from Paxton and his progeny, with the final Mattelson refinements folded in, it is purely gorgeous. It's a bear to mix, but I'll work on that, and frankly, my palette has never glowed like that before. I saw a vibrancy from the first stroke I'd never achieved with my old approach. I'm hooked!

My resulting effort--which I'll post when I get a chance--was much more satisfying than I had anticipated. My approach to workshops is to give over to unfamiliar methods and information and really try them out, and I don't usually expect to do very good work in this struggle. But I actually went home this time with something I was pleased to show.

Marvin is a consummate professional, not to mention a great guy to hang with. If he comes to your area, get thee to Mattelson. You'll be glad.

Best to all--TE

(And Beth's right, Renee and Denise knocked themselves out to make it happen, and it showed!)

I love reading raves about a workshop! Thank you all for posting these. It looks like we are going to have to lasso Marvin, corral him, and drag him out here (how's that for Southwestern imagery).

Beth, your paintings are solid and strong, and your workshop energy is contagious. Tom, Renee and Patt, please post yours!

:) Aw shucks Tom thanks for your kind words and I will admit that after a few words with you I then relaxed , thouroghly enjoying the entire week.The pleasure was mine. The invite still stands to visit anytime.

Linda, I intend to post mine as soon as I can. I'm not nearly as structured as Beth nor Tom but I will give it a try soon. Watch for it.

I was quite fortunate to have such a wonderful group of people participate in my workshop. I appreciate the kind responses and generous praise offered by Beth,Tom, Renee and Pat. Denise and Renee handled all the details magnificently which allowed me to focus solely on my ranting and raving. Learning how to paint is very, very difficult and I am very serious about it, however painting is great fun and we laughed and learned together for five and a half days.

I know some have accused me of shameless promotion but I wanted to make sure we had enough people to run the workshop for the sake of Denise and Renee. This was their creation and I'm glad it happened for their sake. Also, I don

Scumbling down to Greensboro
 

Marvin, are you blushing yet? I also attended the Marvelous Marvin workshop in North Carolina. As this was my first initiation to a workshop, I was very apprehensive, not knowing just what to expect.

Let me add my kudos to the list of my workshop buddies for the week. Marvin's passion and love of great art was made apparent to us during his opening lecture and slide presentation. He is not only a talented artist, but also a talented teacher, two things that do not necessarily go together. He is eager to share his experiences and artistic knowledge with his students. You soon realize that he sincerely takes the time to listen and explain, and explain again if need be, until it becomes perfectly clear and he gets his point across. Marvin also makes it clear that portrait painting is no easy task. Thankfully for me as a novice, I needed to hear that.

We were all there to imporve upon our skills. The workshop was made up of artists of all levels, from the very accomplished to the green novice. With a concise,logical and relaxed approach to teaching, I think Marvin met and even exceeded our goals.

It was a week of discovery and learning, jam packed with his tidbits and stories (and he has a story for everything!)with a good bit of common sense thrown in. I won't be posting my portrait here. Although I learned a great deal during that week, I also learned how much harder I have to work on my drawing skills. It was a week of epiphanies for me. I now have a solid foundation to work upon, thanks to Marvin.

Although this was my first workshop, one instinctively knows when they've found a good thing. I consider myself truly fortunate that I experienced this workshop when I did. In so doing, I have saved myself countless hours of frustration and searching for answers. Thanks, Marvin.

Blushing now!
 

Sometimes even I get speechless!

That's pretty hard to believe, but you do look good in red!

What a week!
 

I'm a little late getting here because I left for a hiking trip to Glacier National Park in Montana and Canada the day after our workshop was over.

I have not been able to get my brushes out since then! I was thinking of Marvin's palette and beautiful demo painting of Brooke many times while hiking. Many times I just wanted to beam myself back in time to the Greensboro studio - still watching him paint!! What a great week I had.

Planning a workshop with a large group, and a college rule list a mile long, dorm rooms, etc. was a lot more than we thought it would be (I'm sure Renee doesn't mind me speaking for her). There were many times when Renee and I could hardly watch or listen to Marvin, much less paint (hahaha) due to troubleshooting the latest minor disaster. All in all we blazed through the week, literally, and loved every second of it (well, almost!)

The best thing I can say after being a participant in Marvin Mattelson's workshop is - I feel confident that his palette is the ANSWER to my problems with Color and Value. His research into the colors used by his teacher, John Murray, who studied with Frank Reilley (sp), has enabled him to form a palette, which for many others and me is very mixable, believable and beautiful. I am so amazed at how easily I absorbed the information he shared with us during class, which lasted from 8:30 each morning until sometimes way after class time was over. I say "absorbed" in a general way. I will have to paint and paint some more each day in order to truly learn to use this palette well. That is to be expected from anything new. I do know, as Tom said, this palette has beautiful skin colors that work together in amazing ways. I can't believe how simple yet how complex it is. Marvin has it all figured out and all we have to do is concentrate on developing the artistry.

Marvin's teaching technique is parallel in quality with his knowledge of the subject matter. If there was a question, Marvin had the answer and then some. He taught non-stop even while dining in the beautiful Greensboro College cafeteria at lunch. He loved sharing all his knowledge with all of us. Anecdotal stories from Marvin's life experiences always kept us in stitches as well. We all had a few of our own too!

Our models never left - ate lunch and dinners with us too - I guess we were just a fun group. Husbands joined us in the evenings a couple of times and that added to the crowd too. We learned so much from Marvin and each other.

Our group of students was diverse and energetic. There were those that nurtured others and painted silently, listening all the while ( Patt Legg, Donna Claybrook, Frankie Olmstead, Irene Bailey and Alicia Kornick come to mind), those who asked questions everyone else wanted to (Beth Schott, Renee and myself come to mind, ehhe), those who inspired others with their innate ability (Tom Edgerton and Irene Bailey come to mind!) as well as those who just mixed the colors fervently, picking Marvin's brain at every turn (the majority of us!!). Some were frustrated with their progress but realized why they were frustrated - and that is the important part! In order to progress, a little pain is involved, some realizations and truths about our own roadblocks which we have been ignoring and stumbling over again and again. Those roadblocks were broken through for those of us who listened and faced our insecurities and tried to move forward with Marvin's lessons. In hindsight, much of what we learned from Marvin was always there in our painting bank - just all jumbled up with too much reading and comparative shopping! I feel calm and centered now about my painting and hope to be able to post a finished painting soon using all the tools that Marvin shared with me at our workshop.

As a result of our workshop - we, the North Carolina painters who attended, are going to form a N. C. Portrait Society. That is a giant step and the idea came after being together for the first time at the workshop. We want to get together to paint every few months, hire a model and compare notes. This is another wonderful thing that came from the workshop. We just didn't have enough time together and this will be a way to keep in touch in a professional as well as personal level.

We, Renee and I, will be posting scanned pictures from our workshop as soon as I receive the pictures from Renee to scan. Her scanner is on the blink and the pictures are in the mail.

When my husband, Mike, arrived the last hour of the workshop on the last day and saw Marvin cleaning his brushes, which are kept in a perfectly patentable designed contraption for travel as well as studio use, all in order of size as well as value he said, "I knew when I saw the condition of his brushes that he was all right and he can sure come work in my lab anytime" (chemistry lab, that is).

I only wish I had Marvin living right down the street to critique my work once every day! Too bad New York City is such a long way from here. We'll have to wait for another time and keep in touch. I hope everyone who gets a chance to study with Marvin will get as much out of working with him as I did. He truly is a gem and a Master Painter.

Denise

Denise not knowing you and Renee hadn't had the chance to scan some of your photos yet, I thought I would post some of mine.

First, I thougth I would explain...

Marvin mixes his palette based on values so there is no need for guessing when the color is needed. He is also a stickler for having a clean brush per value, which adds up to a lot of brushes. Being the master mind he is he came up with an ingenious brush holder which he adapted for his workshops using styrafoam. Since I was the last to leave with Denise, Renee, Spouses and Tom - I of course went through the garbage when I saw them throw out a lot of wood from the tables we used for the week (Tom, I think you grabed some too), well this is what I did with a little plastic piping and glue:

I also wanted to show a couple shots of Marvin working on his demo for the week.

This first one is of his "Wash In", which as he says could be refered to his "wipe off". I found it a great way of getting the drawing right, but also making sure the values were correct.

The canvas is toned to the darkest part of the skin shadow. Raw Umber was added for the darkest darks else where.

As Marvin will be the first to admit "he loves to paint beautiful girls" and this model, Brooke, certainly fit the bill.

Here Marvin is demonstrating scumbling which is a technique somewhat like glazing, but uses opaque paints and is more like oiling your canvas for the next layer of paint. He uses cold pressed lindseed oil and Michael Harding paints.

Here is a shot of Marvin with the three models we had for the week, who were all excellent.

Once again Marvin is blushing, he really is so shy. But I really think he wanted to drive home his point that intensity of color is really one of the three things that brings an object forward in a painting!

That Marvin, he is always teaching.

Lastly, I just had to comment on this quote from Marvin;

[quote]

:bewildere
OK, here goes again. My PC completely froze up earlier when I tried to post.

I am attempting to send my work started in Marvin's workshop in NC. As I had written before, Crystal is the model; I painted on a 20" x 16" and so here it is for now.

The next one is a little closer. Forgive the photography as it has a lot to be desired. The pose that I was attempting was not one that I would have chosen myself. I painted in Crystals right eye and a tiny bit of cheek--then I eliminated the tiny cheek--then painted it back in. My drawing is not my upmost pride at all. As Marvin commented to us many times, the drawing must be right at the beginning. I realize I need help in that area and will attempt to do better.

Close up of the eyes; following was my reference, but taken too light so it certainly would not suit the Proper Reference Photo section on this forum.

Crystal Reference

Bear with me folks as I post Marvin studying his most important of all , his "look at the ink spots here and tell me "what do you see"? Ha

;) and finally Beth after Marvin told her "that's ok Beth, I like you anyway"

Marvin's Classes
 

Hello, everyone. I'm making my posting debut today, though I've been reading and observing here for a while (not to mention learning from many of your comments). I've taken Marvin's class at SVA for several years now, which is why I haven't put up work for help here on the forum. But I do want to add some things to the workshop discussion.

Yes, you workshop participants have discovered Marvin's great teaching, talent and humor. He's that rare creature, a natural-born teacher who knows how to help you break through to a new level. He can (certainly!) communicate. (Plus he's one whiz of a problem solver; consider all the little gadgets he's come up with to make the painting task easier, and ease any problems you might be having.) And then he's that most vital thing, a fine painter, a problem solver in paint.

What I do have to add that isn't redundant after all your appreciative comments is this: as in John Murray's class, which I also was lucky enough to take, more and more people come back like me semester after semester, year after year, to learn from Marvin. He only gets better. (And so do you.) His Saturday SVA class is 6 hours for 12 weeks. It includes an extra 5-hour tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art during which he discusses why some of their wonderful masterpieces work, the very techniques he is teaching you--purely fabulous technical knowledge. This fall he is adding a 6/12 Friday drawing class. So if any of you are anywhere near the NY area, you won't be sorry if you decide to join us.

Best,
Fran Scofield

Hail Fran
 

The key to sucessful teaching is surrounding oneself with talented and wonderful students such as Fran. Fran didn't start painting until after she retired as a NYC schoolteacher. She just keeps getting better and is an inspiration to us all. As one of my younger students would say, "Boy, that lady, she sure can paint!"

Many of my SVA students have been requesting the opportunity to be abused by me twice a week, so this fall I'm adding a second class. Many have expressed the desire to concentrate on drawing one day and painting the next. However, the Friday class is officially listed as a painting class (as is Saturday's).

My classes are loosely structered in that each student can work on whatever area they choose to, always using the live model as their basis. It's all the same stuff, when you really get down to it. It's all drawing! If people try to hide in a safe area they may receive the royal boot.

If anyone hasn't had the opportunity to check out examples of my student's work, please go to: http://www.fineartportrait.com/works...s_gallery.html I will be adding more examples soon.

This is all work of people (up to now) taking one class per week. I feel that the work rivals the quality of work produced in schools where students are able to paint five or more days a week. I'm a very proud Papa!

I wanted to post a before and after example. This is the last painting I completed before the workshop.

Renee Price

This is my workshop painting that I just completed. It's 16 X 20 oil on canvas. Brooke was my model as well as Marvin's model.

If it is alright with the moderators, I'm also posting this in oil critiques in case anyone is interested in doing a critique of the painting.

Renee Price

Renee, I must say I was laughing, because when I first looked at this you must have been posting the workshop image. I was going, darn this little guy looks pretty good, before aye?

Well your finish of the workshop came out wonderful, and if everyone here has an idea of what you and Denise were going through this week, they might say it's a masterpiece! :thumbsup:

Beth,

You don't remember my son modeling at the workshop? You must have missed that day! ;) BTW, he is turning 6 on Wednesday (August 20). Yay!

I'm glad you like the painting of Brooke. It was interesting because her position in my reference photo wasn't exactly the same as her position that I worked from at the workshop.

It was a hectic week, but I learned a lot. I hope you can tell that from my 'before' and 'after' paintings. I'm happy with the progress I've made, but I'm a long way from where I want to be.

Renee