2003 ASOPA San Francisco seminar

[Chuck Yokota]

The ASOPA seminar "Holistic Portraiture - Being and Artist First" was held at the San Francisco Academy of Art College on July 18-20. The attendance was smaller than I had expected; it seemed like less than twenty. The leaders were Carl Samson, Virgil Elliott, and Craig Nelson.

On Friday evening, Carl Samson gave the welcoming remarks, and a slide show that emphsized how still life and landscape painting can inform and improve your portraiture. The three leaders presented slide shows that highlighted their daily lives, studios, families, and some of their works.

On Saturday morning, Carl Samson gave a demonstration of sight-size technique doing a head study. In the afternoon, There was a workshop where we were divided into small groups to paint head studies, with the leaders giving advice and critiques. With six models available, we were able to get very close and paint close to sight-size. In the late afternoon, Craig Nelson presented a slide show that featured some of his works from various phases in his career. In the evening, Virgil Elliott gave a head study painting demonstration, and the three leaders held a panel discussion on launching a career in portait painting.

Sunday morning was another workshop to paint another head study with different models.

Overall, it was a valuable experience for me. Due to the small attendance, I was able to get quite a bit of one-on-one critique from the leaders during the workshops. The presentations were informative, and at the seminar I was able to meet Enzie Shahmiri and Deladier Almeida from this forum.