Thomas Nash -- Portrait Academy Series, Norcross, GA -- What a great day!

Bobbi Baldwin · 10-20-2005, 08:03 PM

A Day with Thomas Nash
Thomas Nash's Portrait Painting Academy Series -- Portrait Society of America -- October 15, 2005.

Traveling across the country to spend the day with the Portrait Society of America's Academy Series speaker, Thomas Nash, was worth every penny. His innovative ideas of teaching via technology, using the most creative ways I have seen yet, made this day worthy of the travel. Tom doesn't teach very often and I jumped at that chance to be there when he did. I have met him and his wonderful wife/agent, Donna, many times at the ASOPA seminars and PSA seminars from 1996 - to present. I feel fortunate to consider them both friends, but, moreover, I am so grateful for the fact that I have learned so much from Tom just in the talks that I had with him through the years. I knew I had to go to Georgia and take part in this one day event. Those of you who know of Tom or went, know what I am saying.

Tom, with more energy than the energizer bunny, lectured for 12 hours straight as he could be found in every break still filling the attendee's minds with his great words of wisdom from 35 years of being a professional portrait painter. I can't believe his fantastic model Bill was able to hold up as long, but, he deserves a badge!

Tom's intellect and humor are hand in hand fun! It was so entertaining to listen to him and how he works. The slides alone could have been a week

Thomas Nash · 10-21-2005, 01:03 PM

I'm so glad you were able to attend and enjoyed the class so much. Also, it was looking like someone was going to have to consult a map to see who got the prize for coming the longest distance to Georgia; it was comiing down between Mike in Maryland, Susan in Louisiana and some of the artists from south Florida, when you clinched it with California :-))) !!!

Glad you liked the "gravity" photos in the screen presentation. Tori Abott Moore, one of the Portrait Society of America ambassadors here in Georgia helped my wife Donna shoot those of me. It was a two person job!

Tom

Michele Rushworth · 10-21-2005, 10:52 PM

Wish I could have been there. Tom, will you be on the agenda for the next PSA event? I'd love to hear more of your wit and wisdom!

Thomas Nash · 10-22-2005, 10:08 AM

I don't know, but thanks for asking Michele. That would be Dallas, but I have not been asked. I don't know how they select the artists who will speak or demonstrate. I will be sure to let you know when I learn one way or the other.

Thomas Nash · 10-24-2005, 08:09 PM

Someone suggested that I share some of the images I used in one of the Keynote presentations that was part of the Academy. The following are from what I called the "gravity" sequence. It was in the context of the anatomy portion of one presentation. I wanted to remind everyone that with all the emphasis on planes, angles and thinking about form and structure, that we are, after all, fleshy creatures and the body moves and is effected by gravity among other forces.

So I had my wife Donna take photos holding the camera sideways or laying upside down so the flash would come from the same angle. Tori Abott Moore (shown behind me), one of the PSA Georgia ambassadors, held a white card behind my head. The idea was that the lighting and look would be the same for all the photos and only the effects of gravity would be different. I would hang upside down or off the side of a bench or look straight down or up. These are not all of the images we showed but will give you a taste. You can see how the flesh is tied more closely to the bone at some parts of the head/face than others.

Hope SOG artists find this amusing. it was interesting to do!

Thomas Nash · 10-24-2005, 08:28 PM

In one I am looking straight down from a ladder, then straight up, then hanging off the side of a bench, the opposite side from one of those above. Then a small composite with a few views.

Michele Rushworth · 10-24-2005, 09:06 PM

What a hoot! You really are a kook, Tom, and I mean that in a nice way! What a great way to wake up a class.

Bobbi Baldwin · 10-24-2005, 10:13 PM

You still crack me up with those photos. I had to look for a long time to realize that was the Thomas that I knew. I love to be entertained and to learn. So, thank you, thank you, thank you! I am still enjoying your lecture and day of teaching. I continually go back to points you made, thinking them through a bit more.

What was that gel medium that you had, but, didn't use? What is it used for? It looked a bit thick in viscosity and like it would act like a jelly verses an oil. Is it another glazing medium? Is it fast drying? I am curious.

Bobbi :*)

Thomas Nash · 10-25-2005, 01:26 PM

You may be referring to a small canister that contained some Maroger a friend gave me. Since I was talking about different techniques, their strengths and weaknesses etc. I considered going into Maroger a bit. I have never used it in my work but do admire the beautiful results that artists like Davide Leffel get while using it. I'm aware that it is controversial (I've read all the contentious threads on SOG about it) and yet am more open minded to it than I was as a student. I did not have time to sufficiently explore it myself to demonstrate with it. I had considered using some form of it as a tool to help me telescope the painting process for the sake of the demo. to be able to get clean distinct strokes over wet paint, rather than find myself at a stopping point as so many demos do, where you are swimming in soup and not really able to express the colors you see or add subtleties . In the end, I decided to use a rough canvas and alkyd white (as I explained to the class) so that I was able to achieve the effect I was looking for during the day. As it turned out, I never mentioned the Maroger because I didn't feel I had time to sufficiently explain the differing views and give the class enough information about where they might go to look into it for themselves.

For the record, I used almost entirely straight paint and only occasionally dipped into some Grumbacher "Pale Drying Oil" which I pulled off my shelf during the week before the demo. I really had not used it before but wanted to have something on hand if I needed the paint to flow a bit more for some passage. I washed my brushes in mineral spirits and tried not to leave much residue in them when I returned to mix paint with them, but there often is a trace.

Michele Rushworth · 10-25-2005, 01:50 PM

Quote:

to be able to get clean distinct strokes over wet paint, rather than find myself at a stopping point as so many demos do, where you are swimming in soup

Tom, I once saw Nelson Shanks resolve this problem during a demo by spraying retouch varnish on the painting. He explained to me that it was to help the new paint grab on better. Might be worth a try.