Free Art Lessons: Portrait in Watercolor

Back in the spring of this year I was down in Raleigh, NC where I spent the day demonstrating a new watercolor palette of my design that’s being produced Jerry’s Artarama. The first video demonstrates the basic use of the palette. The second video demonstrates some of the initial steps in painting a portrait in watercolor and the third demonstrates my approach to painting an eye.

This is a fairly good sampling of what to expect at one of my watercolor workshops. If you would like to learn more, I have 2 workshops scheduled this fall that are listed in the previous post. For more information be sure to visit the workshop page of the McCormack Studios website.

Paul McCormack How to Set Up a Watercolor Palette Part I | Free Art Lessons

Free Art Lessons: Portrait in Watercolor Part II- JerrysArtarama.com

  

Free Art Lessons: Painting an Eye- JerrysArtarama.com

Fall Workshops & Art of the Carolinas 2010

5 Day Watercolor Portrait Workshop

November 3 - 7,  2010

9:30 am to 4:30 pm

Fee: $750 (model fee included)

McCormack Studios, Inc.

400 Market Industrial Park, Suite 11

Wappinger Falls, NY  12590

Phone: (845) 242-9000

Email: info@mccormackstudios.com

Website: http://www.mccormackstudios.com/

Art of the Carolinas 2010

With a hotel full of artists, instructors, art material vendors and the Skybox Lounge with Bass on tap the Art of the Carolinas is always a fun event. If you ever wanted to know what one of my 5 day workshops are like this is a great way to get a sampling. Each one day workshop is 6 hours long. With demonstrations and lectures given each day you will be taken through a step-by-step procedure…watch,  listen,  learn,  and then apply. Will you walk out with a completed painting? Probably not, but I can guarantee that you'll walk away with a wealth of information.

 

1 day Portrait Drawing Workshop

November 11, 2010

1 day Portrait in Oil Workshop

November 12, 2010

1 day Portrait in Watercolor Workshop

November 13, 2010

Art of the Carolinas 2010
3415 Wake Forest Road

Raleigh, NC 27609

Phone: 919-876-6610
Fax: 919-876-0966

Email:  sharon@jerrysartarama.com

Website:  http://www.jerrysartevents.com/

 

Where were you in 1989?

Last month I came across an old video recording of the NJ Watercolor Society’s 50^th Anniversary Exhibition in1989. The clip below is from the television program “NJ State of the Arts”. The exhibit opened at the Montclair Art Museum and then traveled to the Noyes Museum where the filming took place, and the exhibit closed at the Morris Museum in Lincroft, NJ. I can still recall driving down a deserted NJ Parkway during the tail end of the ’89 blizzard.

There was no size limitation for the exhibit giving me the opportunity to exhibit the largest watercolor I’ve done to date. Measuring 70” x 40”, “Pamelia” took 3 attempts to accomplish what I was looking for at the time. Spending nearly 6 weeks on the first attempt, the face eventually became overworked forcing me to scrap it. The second attempt was scrapped in the early stages after one week into the process. The third and final version shown below was executed in 2 weeks. 

 "Pamelia"

 1988 - Watercolor on Arches 140lb cold pressed paper, 70" x 40"

 Working on one piece for 6 weeks and scrapping it certainly can be disheartening, but this is not at all unusual for someone working in watercolor. One can view it as a thorough study of the subject before executing the final painting, and in the end this enabled me to greatly simplify many passages of the painting. 

The Contemporary Portrait & Figure Exhibit

I have 3 works included in this exhibition; "Daughter of Hope", "Allyson" and "Abigail Rose - Portrait of the Artist's Daughter" I will be attending the opening on June 13. Hope to see you there.


Stone Quarry Hill Art Park's exhibition, The Contemporary Portrait and Figure, highlights 14 artists whose explorations of the portrait and figure are as diverse as their subjects. The exhibition features artists: Romare Bearden, Jane Woodruff Carroll, Bob Dacey, Grace Hartigan, Darryl Hughto, David Kassan, Kevin Mayer, Paul McCormack, Katie O'Hagan, Susan Roth, Sarah Acton Sheer, Sharon Sprung, Gary Trento and Jerome Witkin. The show opens on Sunday, June 13, with a wine and cheese reception from 3-5 PM in the Art Park's John and Virginia Winner Memorial Art Gallery. It runs through Sunday, July 11. The Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, Noon-5 PM.

Portrait in Oil - 5 Day Workshop

There are 4 spots left for the Portrait in Oil Workshop beginning on June 23rd. I've been working on a self portrait the past few weeks and it should be completed by mid-June. With this in mind I will be adding to the workshop a brief talk on the process of creating a self portrait. Below is a detail of my portrait in progress.


You can register for this workshop through the McCormack Studios website.
Portrait in Oil - 5 Day Workshop
June 23 - 27, 2010
9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Fee: $750 (model fee included)
McCormack Studios, Inc.
400 Market Industrial Park, Suite 11
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
Phone: (845) 831-3368
Email: info@mccormackstudios.com
Website: http://www.mccormackstudios.com/

2010 Workshop Schedule

Here is the 2010 schedule for workshops at the McCormack Studios.

~ 2 Day Portrait Drawing for the Beginner Workshop
March 27 & 28, 2010

~ 5 Day Portrait Drawing Workshop
April 14 - 18, 2010

~ 5 Day Portrait in Oil Workshop
June 23 - 27, 2010

~ 5 Day Watercolor Portrait Workshop
July 28 – August 1, 2010

Please visit the workshop page of the website for complete details.


Demo from the 2009 Portrait Drawing Workshop by Paul W. McCormack.

The Paul W. McCormack Watercolor Palette

I just received the prototype for the Paul W. McCormack watercolor palette. It measures 13" x 16" with a snap on cover (embossed signature of course)...hard plastic like a Pike Palette. It's being produced by Jerry's Artarama. When you take into consideration that every element in one of my watercolor paintings is first simplified into a light, halftone and dark, this palette will begin to make perfect sense. In a simple head and shoulders portrait you would begin with 3 mixtures for the flesh, 3 for the hair and 3 for the garment. The smaller wells on the side are simply used for smaller mixtures, iris color, pupil, etc. The snap on lid can be used for the larger washes such as the background. Anyone who has worked with me in the past will know exactly what I'm talking about...a logical approach to watercolor.