Transcending the Photo Reference in Paint - 4-Day Workshop by Alyssa Monks

This 4-day workshop is designed to guide students in creating paintings from photo references using both indirect and direct traditional painting techniques. The workshop teaches painters how to use photographs to create paintings that surpass the photograph rather than simply imitate it. Topics covered include creating useful photo references (ideal lighting, camera settings, lenses, Photoshop, and printing), composition development through quick sketches, progressive oil sketches with limited photograph use, and laying in composition with an imprimatura wash. Students will learn to create color relationships that portray space and volume, with emphasis on paint application and surface activation through deliberate brush strokes and accurate color relationships. The workshop focuses on structural volumes over contour, relating all parts of the picture to each other with an organized palette.

Students will be guided in deciding what information is useful from photographs and what pitfalls to avoid when interpreting them. The workshop emphasizes deciding when and how to invent and experiment, encouraging students to look more at the painting itself than the photographic source. Methods of glazing and scumbling will be discussed, with paintings developing through indirect layers of opaque and transparent painting. The final result can range from abstraction and improvisation to more illusionistic representation, with all approaches discussed and their challenges and rewards explored.

Entry fee is $15.00. Workshop cost is $1,460 and includes lunch daily prepared by a local chef. A limited number of attendees may stay on-site at Willow Pond for an immersive experience with daily light breakfast and dinner catered by a Central Coast chef. Applicants must submit 5 JPEG images (no larger than 1000k each) titled as LastName_TitleOfWork_Medium_Size.jpg. Eligibility: must work in oil paint (no other mediums accepted) and must speak English. International applicants welcome. For more information about instructor Alyssa Monks, visit www.alyssamonks.com.