Report on Whitelaw Workshop
 

HI -

Just thought I would report back on this workshop.

I'll post several photos, so this will be in more than one message.
The workshop was held in the Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga. Very nice facility and had some nice portraits in their collection.
Dawn did her demo for us Friday night. About 50-60 people attended. She used only a few basic colors, explaining that she is learning to think according to the color spectrum rather than in terms of "alizarin crimson" or other tube colors.
Here are a few shots of her at work and her palette.


__________________
Julie Deane
www.jadeaneartist.com

30 people attended the workshop. We had three models to work from.
Dawn was a busy lady! Luckily, the Portrait Society had plenty of people to help her out with the details.
We drew a playing card, which matched a place on the floor to set up our easels. Dawn had prepared an instruction sheet giving an outline of her process with some detail. The bare bones outline is as follows:
1. Design concept 2. Drawing 3. Establish pattern 4. Establish the value key 5. Develop form and structure 6. Finish
I like this quote from her paper "If you are not pleased with design or drawing, wash the canvas off and begin again. It is easier to "give birth" than to "raise the dead".

A few more photos
 

A few more photos. That's my work in progress.

Hi All, I made an error while trying to edit something for Julie and lost the earlier resonses to this thread. I'm so sorry if your response was deleted. :oops:

That's okay, Mary. Although I will post my workshop "finished" piece again, because I was happy with the progress I made.

Thanks again, Steven and Michelle, for your kind comments.

Hi Mary and Julie,
Thanks for sharing insights from the workshop. You guys are so lucky to have workshops like this in your country. I'm curious about Dawn's palette.
Would you be able to provide a description of the colors used? (I presume she must mention it somewhere on the buying list attached to the workshop programme?)

And strangely, i don't see ceruleum blue on her palette. If she mixes her own flesh tones, wouldn't it be an essential color on her palette?

And last but not least, i was wondering about the green (circle) that she used. Any idea what's that green?

Sorry for so many questions, hope you can indulge this curious cat here (meow!) :D

Hi Marcus -

Actually, it was just myself that went to the workshop. Mary was changing the title for me and ran into technical glitches and had to reinstate some of the message, hence her name and photo attached to messages that I sent.

Dawn actually only used three colors and white. Utrecht Cadmium Yellow Light (her preferred yellow), French Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red Medium. I believe the red and blue were Winton - nothing special. In fact, she commented that she usually doesn't buy expensive paints. She does have preferences for whites: Holbein Titanium White or Gamblin Replacement Flake White.

The green you see is a mix of the ultramarine blue and yellow. White and possibly a bit of the red may also be added. She says that a simple color mix helps her to "think in terms of the spectrum".

Personally, I had to add colors. My portrait used an extra blue, Prussian Blue, so that I could get that green you see. I also used a transparent earth tone. I also used an extra yellow and red, but could have probably mixed them from my primaries.

Dawn did not insist we use her colors, but I am glad I tried.

She did have a canvas preference. She orders a linen with alkyd primer from an art supply store in New York City. Unfortunately, she couldn't remember which, but I believe they have "New York" as part of their name. It had a little bit of texture to it - not a whole lot, and I noticed little "nubbies" in the cloth. By that, I mean that some parts of the cloth protruded, not perfectly smooth.

Hi Julie,
Thanks for the new insight on your experience. I'm surprised to know that Ultramarine is used in portraiture. Since i started painting, i did away with Ultras for my portraits! The only blue i have is Ceruleum Blue!

Alkyd primers? That's the second time i heard this term. How is it compared to acrylic primers used in usual canvases?
When i think about using linen, i naturally think about smooth surfaces, so it's quite a surprise for me to have textures on linen!

It must be quite a different feeling painting on this type of linen then?

Julie, thanks for posting these images and the description of Dawn's workshop. She is a terrific artist and I am a big fan of her fresh, painterly alla prima working method. And I really like how your painting turned out as well!

Thanks, Linda -

I really like her things too.

Her website is www.dawnwhitelaw.com, for anyone interested in checking out her work.

Marcus, I would hate to have to limit myself to one blue. I like cerulean for its beautiful blues but also for the greens I can mix from it. But if I want a more reddish blue, I would go for ultramarine. I am also liking Prussion Blue, because it's dark like ultramarine, but with a greenish tinge, so it mixes into a green very nicely when yellow is added.

Alkyd is like an oil paint, I think, but it dries faster. I'm not an expert, so I'm sure you can get a better description from someone who knows more about it.

Hi Julie,
I'm a little late with this response, because I was so busy with holiday deadlines that I hadn't had a chance to visit this site for the past month.

Anyhow, thanks so much for reporting back to us about the workshop. I think the painting you completed looks great! I am also intriqued with the primary palette that she uses. I've used a primary palette for landscapes and still lifes with wonderful results but it never crossed my mind to use it for a portrait. I think I will try experimenting with it on a portrait sometime.

Thanks again,
Mary

Thanks, Mary! It is nice to know that those primary colors are manageable.

Please share that future portrait with us!

I am resurrecting this thread to mention that Dawn was on a live chat on American Artist recently. If you're a fan of her work (as I am) you might want to read the transcript here.

Linda,
Thanks for the info, I just finished reading it and really enjoyed it.
Mary

Ditto
 

Ditto, again. Loved the interview. Read every word.

Thanks for the link, Linda--I read it all and it was full of good advice.

Great link Linda
 

Thanks for that link also Linda,

I didn't see the latest issue of AA so this was a nice surprise when I checked in this morning.

I participated in a weekend workshop with Dawn last November at our NC Portrait Artist workshop in Raleigh. She and Edward Jonas were just wonderful to be with. Watching her paint with such a limited palette and simple brush collection just was inspiring. I also love the way she constantly reminds us to compare our values of our paint, palette (the actual wood palette) and colors within our model/background to achieve likeness in all areas. I may not always use that palette of colors but I know that I can if I want to - thanks to Dawn's workshop!

Denise