Institute of Academic Realism-Mattelson

[Tom Edgerton]

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!)

[Linda Brandon]

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!

[Patt Legg]

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.

[Marvin Mattelson]

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

[Alicia Kornick]

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.

[Marvin Mattelson]

Sometimes even I get speechless!

[Alicia Kornick]

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

[Denise Hall]

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

[Elizabeth Schott]

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...

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

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:

[Elizabeth Schott]

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.