Nora
 

This is a demonstration I painted during my New York portrait workshop at the School of Visual Arts this past week. I do a demo for every course and workshop I lead.

The purpose of the demo is to illustrate, to my students, the three basic procedural steps I utilize in building a painting: a monochromatic transparent underpainting, an initial lay-in of color and a scumble developed to a finish state. Each subsequent layer is applied over dry paint.

Unfortunately, I rarely get to take these paintings anywhere near the level of finish which I develop for my finished portraits but I felt this painting captured her spirit. The painting is 14 x 18 inches.

Beautiful Marvin, how much time did you get to demonstrate?

Mora about Nora, Fiona
 

WOW!

Very nice Marvin! You get quicker at this 'painting thing', don't you? Very finished looking too! Nice!

Next week you'll be down here in Atlanta, and then it's back to the easel with you for two weeks (insert the sound of a whip cracking here)!

Thank you both for your compliments.

Beth, this was a three day demo. With all the yapping I do while I paint I would figure I spent approximately ten hours of painting time. It wasn't my intention to finish it, although it would have been nice. It's painted very thinly and is at the point where I feel I could really begin to put paint on it. I'll be doing a four hour alla primo demo at Binders in Atlanta this Saturday where I'll be starting with a more loaded brush from the get-go and trying to get a more finished yet painterly look. This is the technique I use when I do portrait color studies for my commissions.

Lynn, I am getting further with each demo I do. Since I do a lot of 'splainin' regarding what I'm doing, and why, a great deal of my consciousness is on my students and not nearly enough on the act painting, relative to what I'm used to in my studio. Obviously I'm serving a different purpose here, however I'm either getting better at multitasking or becoming schizophrenic.

This was a six day workshop. As you know I'll be in Atlanta for two weeks starting next week so I hope to develop that demo painting more toward a finish. We'll see.

Marvin you still did your "wash-in" right? Can you explain what you mean by painted thinly? I really believe there is a lot of confusion among people when they read this.

Thanks Sharon. I'm glad you like the palette. Told ya!

Beth, maybe I should have activated the poll feature to see how many people reading my post were confused? Seriously though, I still do the wash-in. I refer to it as a monochromatic transparent underpainting because most people don't know what a wash-in is and I like to impress people with my extensive vocabulary. Kidding on the second point.

The next time I paint, I lay in the second layer thinly enough to cover the dry wash-in in an attempt to establish the broad color relationships and continue to refine everything (drawing, colors, values and edges) til the buzzer goes off and class is over.

The third pass starts with a scumbling of light colors over the painting in order to pull out the lights and unify the effect I'm trying to achieve. I then proceed to paint into this with the intention of refining all the above mentioned points.

I keep all this thin so when I start to apply the final layers I don't have ridges built up in bad places. Since I prefer canvas wet sanding is out of the question.

I understand that this explanation is simplistic because to fully describe what I do takes three days of demoing (two and a half if there was no humor) to explain. It takes people quite a while to absorb everything (days, weeks, months, years, millenniums?) What I teach operates at many levels, each student getting what is appropriate for their stage of development.

Quite often I'll have a student tell me they never heard this or that when in fact I may have repeated it several zillion times (I exaggerate, maybe only several billion!?!)

Anyone who thinks they can really understand the complexity of painting in a week, let alone a lifetime, is kidding themselves. The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

Also, confusing people is not necessarily a bad thing, unless of course they are your employees and you pay them by the hour or you're giving them driving directions!

As always I clarify, just in case... I didn't mean your post about the painting, I meant the use of the words "thinly", that a lot of artist may say this, along with things like "thick over lean" and there may be some confusion especially among new oil painters.

Now we know I am always confused that's a given. And I agree with you on the "one week with Marvin", one needs at least 2 years. :)

What do grasshoppers turn into anyway? We know it's not a butterfly! :sunnysmil

Sharon have you tubed the values yet?

Marvin,

Is is possible for you to shoot photos of your three stages for a really basic demo? I know what a monochromatic underpainting looks like, and obviously your scumble-to-a-finish, but I am curious as to what the "broad color relationship" stage is about.

Actually, I'd love to see a full demo if you're up to it! Or you could direct me to one you've already done. My apologies, if I just haven't looked hard enough for one.

Beth, are you referring to fat over lean which is really slow drying over faster drying? Painting thicker layers over thinner layers accomplishes the same thing.

Jen, on my site is a step by step from a workshop last year in Atlanta.
http://www.fineartportrait.com/workshop_demo.html

Oh Marvin, this is so true. I think of this as the "Helen Keller at the water pump" effect. Teacher shows her the alphabet over and over; Helen finally "getting it" is one of my favorite movie moments. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

This is a beautiful portrait, sensitively painted. I'm very impressed that you did it as a live demo.

Yahoooooooooooo!
 

Linda,

Flattery will get you everywhere. As far as I know there still may be an opening for president of the Marvin Mattelson fan club.

My favorite movie moment is in "Dr. Strangelove" when Slim Pickins finally gets the stuck bombardier doors open and euphorically rides the A-Bomb to oblivion, "yahooing" like he's on a bucking bronco. This is what I imagine it's like for many students when they finally break through and see the light.

Marvin,

I also like scene just before the "yahoo" moment when Slim Pickins was still in the cockpit going through his emergency ration kit.

Slim Pickins was also a painter. A few years back I was wandering through a gallery in Kerville, Texas and discovered some of his work. I don't remember that much about it, but, I will never forget him as the pilot of that B52. What a great name ... Slim Pickins.

Oh yeah, thats a real nice painting you got there pardner.

Gorgeous! I particularly like the reflected light.

Marvin! This is an image of a crazed man hurtling through space at horrific speed to his certain, gruesome death! We must find some other analogy for your students to anticipate. :)

Yaaaaahoooo! To You Too!
 

Believe me, Marvin has the image and the feeling right! Slim Pickins character excepted the facts, rode it out with enthusiasm, and went out in glory : That is an acceptable analogy. When you come out of one of Marvin's workshops it feels a lot like that! You wonder to yourself, "What was all that other stuff I learned"? And "What on earth made me think I was painting in the past"? The site of a blank white canvas used to taunt me and intimidate me, now I can't wait to tone them. Painting has definitely become less of a struggle with Marvin's method!

Mike, thanks for the compliment, but didn't you know that everybody's an artist? Most of the galleries I go into offer nothin' but slim pickin's.

Thanks Michele, I believe that reflected light is a great opportunity to bring color into a painting while leaving the lights clean and avoiding a muddy look. As long as the reflected light value stays in the shadow realm you can really push color.

Linda, I view at it as a good example of the "when life gives you lemons make lemonade" philosophy.

Lynn, are you ready for two weeks of portrait boot camp? I'll be bringing Nora (the painting) with me to my demo, lecture and workshop next week. I'm afraid to bring it to my critique session. Just kidding!

Even Mora Nora, Fiona!
 

Nora (the painting)? I won't tell anyone!

Can I bring my sandals to boot camp?

I will be glad to meet Nora! People around Atlanta can come meet her too!

Marvin,

Thanks for posting your demo. I always enjoy viewing unfinished pieces to get a look at the creative process that goes into artist's paintings. I'd be very interested in your alla prima demo painting, as that would seem a huge departure from your normal technique. Have an awesome workshop next week. Ok, I think it's about time I rent Dr. Strangelove...

Holly