Bill Whitaker workshop April 2004 Scottsdale Artists' School

[Chris Saper]

Another extraordinary week, filled with teaching and learning.

I'll just start this thread for the Forum members who were in the workshop, and hope others will add images, especially since I am missing quite a few ( and all of Friday's events).

I have quite a few images of the Linda Demo; I'll let Bill take a look at them first, then post them eventually. Unfortunately, most of them seem to be out of focus. I would gladly replace them with better images if anyone has them at the ready.

Sunday night, most of the class was able to meet at my house for an informal dinner and review of a great number of images Bill has, and in particular a demonstration of how he used his portable "Magic Box". Here, he is just setting things up.

[Chris Saper]

Just to whet your appetitites, SOG and Forum Moderator Linda Brandon was a willing and gracious model for the Monday demonstration.

Here you can first see Bill beginning the placement and gesture on the canvas.

Next, he shares one of his Excellent Secrets for Successful Painting From Life: Model Hypnosis. The ever flexible multi-purpose mahl stick, which, in the event of hypnosis failure, can be used to flog the model into submission.

[William Whitaker]

Chris,

We really missed you and your art shoes Friday.

And as for Linda Brandon, here's a shot of her with her painting of Irish. I was so proud of her. Notice how she's actually standing back!

[William Whitaker]

Here's Michael Georges really concentrating, a brush clamped in his jaws and everything.

[William Whitaker]

And here's our lovely model Irish. What a great head to paint!

[Linda Brandon]

Friends, if you're ever given the opportunity to sit as a model for a painter you adore, you must take the opportunity to fix your beady little eyes on his palette. I had the best seat in the house and was able to watch Bill's painting decisions at every point.

I can't speak for anyone else in the room, but I will never forget this day.

There are already too many views of my head in this thread, but here's the best one by far, which is Bill's demo sketch:

[Linda Brandon]

We made our poor models sit for four days... .

Irish was my afternoon subject and a joy to paint.

[Linda Brandon]

Poor Hugh was my morning victim and was also a delight to paint.

Bill made me slow down and really try to nail down Hugh's likeness. I drew (and wiped off) Hugh three times in the first few hours.

This is as good a place as any to mention that Bill advocated a kind of visual comparison drawing method instead of a strict "measuring" method. In other words, he had us shift our vision back and forth between the model and the canvas so that any errors would jump out right away (in theory, anyway). I loved doing this.

[Michele Rushworth]

What wonderful work came out of this class. Linda your paintings (both the ones made BY you and the one OF you) turned out beautifully.

[Allan Rahbek]

Originally Posted by Linda Brandon

This is as good a place as any to mention that Bill advocated a kind of visual comparison drawing method instead of a strict "measuring" method. In other words, he had us shift our vision back and forth between the model and the canvas so that any errors would jump out right away (in theory, anyway). I loved doing this.

This method works fine:

It covers a natural section of what you actual see in one glance.
It does not show distortions, because it is only what you can see with the head in one position. It fit to the canvas / paper.

I really wish that I could have been there.

Allan