Mattelson workshop
 

Here's an update on Marvin's workshop. I'm really excited to have the opportunity to study with him. I'll post a little bit as time permits, because this is a very worthwhile investment, for anyone considering it for the future. Marvin is a great teacher! In the past, I was a bit worried about stylistic differences, but it wasn't necessary. He teaches the basics, and the student can do with them what he or she wants.

I attended his lecture "Everything I know about painting I learned at the Met" a few years ago and learned so much that helped me immediatly in my drawing. Heard it again last night - had forgotten a lot of things that I intend to remember to help me improve my painting.

Anyway, about the workshop (in Atlanta, at Binder's Art Supply - the evening lectures are available to the public - check out Marvin's link for info: http://www.fineartportrait.com/atlan..._workshop.html)

Yesterday was a demonstration day. Marvin has two models. Here he is working on his wash-in, which involves painting the model in one color to establish the drawing and values before color is added.

The actual progression is one that Marvin is in the process of photographing and will probably be posting on his website. I don't presume to show them, because my photos came out a bit distorted.

Here he is at the beginning of the process.

Here's my wash-in from our first day painting. We'll do it again tomorrow, to better learn the process and the model.

Julie,

Thanks for the post. I took Marvin's one week workshop a few years ago in Atlanta and am forever grateful. I hope you can post more. And your right, his lectures are crammed full of worthwhile information and fun, too.

I hope to see you next Friday, I'll be attending his lecture that evening. I can hardly wait.

Julie,

Thank you for posting these. Your first day study is awesome! Good job! Have you thought about taking a tape recorder to the work shop?

Keep us posted and I hope others will as well.

mischa

Julie,
it's very nice of you to share that.
And your wash-in looks absolutly fantastic!
How long did you work on it?

Julie, thanks for posting this and for the links. Your sketch is beautiful. You've certainly captured a drama in this portrait. Please keep us posted with this painting! I would love to see your work in progress.

Dianne

Thanks, Marina, John, Mischa and Dianne-

John, I'll look forward to meet you at that lecture. Marvin's lectures are excellent. He presents his information logically, in a way that is good for students from beginning to advanced. Right after I attended his "Met" lecture two years ago, I started putting the visual principles he taught into practice, starting with my drawing of ""Bea" that I posted on this forum. It won first place and best of show in two separate competitions. Yes, I had to apply the things he taught, but his lecture opened my eyes to things I had never considered.

Mischa, I never thought about bringing a tape recorder. I would think that if someone did this, it would have to be a video recorder, because visuals are so important. Plus, the video would be a comedy show, I think, because Marvin is very funny and at this workshop at least he has fellow comedians to egg him on. Our model keeps cracking up laughing.

Marina, Marvin has his class do two days of wash-ins, one per day. We start at 9:30 and go to 4:30, with time for small breaks for the models to stretch, plus a lunch hour.

We were told that our second wash-in would be an improvement over the first, as we got a better handle on our medium and got to know our model's face better. I'm posting my wash-in number two.

Tomorrow, Marvin will be demonstrating his painting technique using his palette based on Paxton's. The palette has already been shown and discussed on this forum before, so I won't repeat that info, but I will put in my two cents: it is a very logical system, and could be used as a base and adapted upon easily.

And here's a snapshot of part of our class. That's Marvin's sample wash-in to the far left.

Julie, I am in awe of your wash-ins!

Julie,

I hadn't thought of two wash ins but it appears Marvin is correct again. Have fun (like you could stop) and say hi to Marvin for me, please (and tell him we miss his wit and wisdom on this forum).

Thanks, Alexandra. In this case, the model for the wash-in is a friend, which always helps. What frustrates me is that it really doesn't show her warm and friendly personality.

John, I mentioned to Marvin that you're coming to the workshop. Is that this Friday or next? I'm assuming next (marketing lecture)?

Here's a shot of Marvin at work. Today was a "demo" day. Truly an eye-opening experience. So much can be learned just by watching someone paint. I hope I understand it enought to do paint well myself tomorrow (a class painting day - we are alternating days now - one day painting, one day watching Marvin demo).

That's correct, Julie,

I'll be attending his marketing/portfolio lecture. I'm working on a self portrait reminiscent of my first critique Marvin gave me. I'm hoping to have it finished in order to bring it to Atlanta but at the rate I'm going I don't think I'll make it. I have made it a challenge and still have some issues to work out.

I'm looking forward to meeting you.

John, I hope you get in done so you can bring it along.

Today was our first day to work in color. I was worried that I would have trouble with the palette, because brushes are laid out for use in each value, there are a lot of them, and I was afraid it would be hard to get used to. But I found that I was able to adopt easily after one false start.
To me it was as if I was playing the piano and choosing which keys to play as I went up and down the scale (of values).

Here's the first layer of color. Other layers will be added after this dries.

Julie,

Thank you, thank you, thank you.....

I tried so hard to get there and am glad that at least I can share this wonderful experience through your postings. Please give my regards to Marvin. I second John's sentiment that Marvin's input and critiques are greatly missed here at the forum.

By the way great job on our mutual friend. How is she holding up? You have captured her likeness right off the start and I can't wait to see your end result.

Using all these brushes was a change for me too, but in the meantime I have added my own adabtations to Marvin's brush holder and keep most of my brushes organized in that manner.

What a beautiful start and such an informative thread. Thank you for sharing. Would it be at all possible to take a photo of your set up?

Dianne

Enzie, I'll send that message on to Marvin. Our model and mutual friend is doing well, although sitting in one position for that long has not been easy for her.

Dianne, the paint system can be seen at this link: http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...elson+workshop
As for the brushes and how they are laid out, I'll describe it now and post a photo later.

The brushes are put in rows that match each value. There are 3 brushes per value - small/medium/large brushes. Even though there are four possible colors per value, you don't have a different brush for each of those colors in that value string. You simply wipe your brush if you want to change colors, and you only use that brush for that value. For example, let's say you're starting the portrait and you want to lay in some darks. You take your value 1 brush (1 = darkest color, 9 = lightest) and put it in your value 1 paint. You might lay in some black, or some raw umber mix, or some red mix, but you're only using one value. Then, when you're done with that value, you move on to another value string, using its designated brushes. It sounds more complicated than it is.

I like this system because my colors are cleaner with less effort.

Julie,

Great start, I can see Marvin's influence. Your colors and drawing look great and you appear to be well on your way to a happy conclusion.

I found Marvin's pallette easily adaptable to my thought process and his method of organizing his brushes was such a help for me that I had a permanent brush holder made based on his design.

I will try to photograph my set up Monday morning before I get too far along. I'm rather happy with my set up.

Here's one picture of Marvin with his setup.

And here's one student's setup for brushes, stuck in a foam block. Sorry it's blurry.

Here's an update on how my workshop painting is coming along.

Looking good Julie. Please say "Hello" to Marvin and Pat from me. I sure wish I was there with you guys. I know just how much fun you are having.

Keep up the great work!

Wow, this is really impressive, Julie! The color is now so rich, and there's such a great character in her face.

Thanx,, Janel and Alexandra. I'm learning a lot and am very grateful that I was able to attend Marvin's workshop. He is a very good teacher with such a well thought out methodology. I'd recommend his workshop to anyone, no matter how loose or tight a painter they are. I'm more of a "loose" painter compared to Marvin's style, but it doesn't matter, because I can use what he teaches. Many teachers stop at the point where they've shown you how to paint what is in front of your eyes. In Marvin's class, that is the starting point. He proceeds to show you how to plan and execute a painting by changing what is there if necessary to best communicate a three-dimensional reality.

Marvin's demonstration portrait is his best ever, I think. It looks like the model could hop off the canvas, yet he did not put in every detail. He'll be finishing it on Saturday and I'm hoping he'll okay me posting it here. He did some "magic" today with the background that was breath-taking in its effectiveness.

Oh how I wish I could have been there BUT I will be there tomorrow night. I am looking forward to it. Hope to see you there at the lecture, Julie.

John, it was a pleasure meeting you today. Nice portfolio, too. Sorry we had to leave before seeing it all.

We have a few hours to complete our portraits tomorrow. This has been an exhilarating but exhausting two weeks. I'm tired but very happy with what I've been learning.

Here's the portrait so far. Getting an exact color balance is iffy, but this is fairly close, except it is actually slightly lighter than it appears when I post (at least on my home monitor).

Julie,

It was a real pleasure meeting you and thank you so much for your kind words. Your painting is beautiful and the color is excellent. The post here is close but can't do it justice.

I am so pleased to have attended the workshop lecture. Marvin reinvigorated me and validated some issues that I was struggling with. I give Marvin my highest regards for his generous nature to share with us. I know you agree.

I am looking forward to exchanging posts with you and give my best to Patty and my congratulations.

As a side note later that evening I received a commision and am planning my next trip for a meeting with the mother for a painting of her two daughters. The couple are friends whom I stayed with that night and they were interested in my reason in visiting the workshop. I had my portfolio and "ta-da" things fell in place with much credit going to Marvin not only for creating my reason to go to Atlanta but for energizing my marketing/selling side. If you can, please pass on the good news to Marvin for me (better yet, I'll tell him myself).

I love it when a plan comes together.

Congratulations, John! That's wonderful news!

I'm posting how the portrait finally ended up. The colors and values are not quite right, but It's hard to get it just right online.

Marvin was so helpful - I'd be struggling, and he'd come over and remind me of something he had mentioned in his lectures, I'd apply it, and woila! it would improve considerably.

Here's a closeup.

Here's a shot of Marvin's beautiful portrait. I tried to get a closeup, but the shot came out blurry. His portraits have so much "dimensionality" that they seem to pop off the canvas in real life.

And here's Marvin - putting on the final brushstrokes? :)

Ha! Julie, you brought back a memory from my 2005 Las Vegas two week workshop with Marvin. At the end of the day, we were sitting around the studio talking and I was
looking at the photos I took during the day. Like this photo, you saw the model and the painting of the model. Like this photo, when photographed, it is my opinion that the painting looks more like real skin than the model does.

Great job on Patty by the way.

Julie's painting is awesome, this photo does not do it justice because it does not show how accomplished her colors were . But, that is my mug for sure!!

Although it was quite frustrating to be a model rather than to paint I gained so much from another two weeks with Marvin. I have now attended three workshops and each time I have gained invaluable information/insight, heard and saw that which did not sink in previously. And as Janel and Enzie can attest to, we had loads of fun.
Wish the two of you were there!! I thought of my friends from the Vegas workshop often and told some of our own funny Marvin stories!!

John, it was nice meeting you as well and hope you can attend his workshop in January (the first week). I will be organizing the it as I have been hired as the Director of Binder's Learning Center!! So, anyone interested in taking one of Marvin's workshops in the future (8 days beginning of January 2007 and two weeks next summer) email me privately and I will get you on the waiting list right away. The January workshop is already filling up.

Julie, the painting has nice solidity and I can relate to how things fall into place by Marvin merely walking by and forcing you to recall something he had said earlier. That's another thing I loved about his workshop. I can't stand it when instructors take your brush and start
working away at your painting, as if that's going to teach you what you need to see for yourself. Marvin makes you look and discover the errors on your own, then he prompts you to recall what solution befits what problem. I learned volumes this way, as I am sure you did as well.

Pat, congratulations to the new job offer! Pretty cool.... Definitely keep me posted on his upcoming workshops.

Thanks, Pat. You were awesome to paint - that red hair is gorgeous. And you held still so well.

Thanks, Enzie. There are so many things I would have continued to work on had it not been a painting from life. And I still haven't figured out how to successfully photograph and post photos that reflect the art's colors well, so the truth is somewhere in the midst of all those variations.

Seeing what a photo did to Patty's beautiful hair color was an education (it really dulled it down)- it is necessary to do a color study for commissions, not just rely on a photo.

Marvin is also holding workshops in New York City in July/August. Here's the link: http://www.fineartportrait.com/teaching.html.

And, yes, I'm shamelessly promoting his workshop. It's well worth the price.