New York Academy of Art

We will focus on the difference between how an eye perceives light and color and how the same colors appear on our palette, utilizing the knowledge to achieve the most life-like results. While everyone knows that mixing yellow and blue paint gives us green, a completely different result happens when blue and yellow light sources are mixed, especially when applied to complex human figure. Starting with a practice of the wipe-out technique with charcoal in the first session, we will move on to a 5-week-long pose with a live model and a variety of props, illuminated by colored lights, with every step of the painting process explained from start to finish. Starting from a monochrome imprimatura, going through a variety of glazes and scumbles (transparent and opaque paint applications), every student will leave with a fully developed piece. Through a series of lectures, demonstrations, group and personal critiques, and practice, topics such as the relativity of color, its value and temperature, the strategic approach to the creation of a layered painting will be discussed. Additional topics such as canvas preparation, proper documentation of the artwork, and something as both simple and confusing as reading the pigment labels will be covered as well.