15 April 2008

Preparing for Scottsdale Artists School.

I am going to Scottsdale Artists School for the second time. This time I will take two classes. Both figure painting. One with Sherri Mc Graw (who i hope is in no way related to Dr. Phil!) and another with Clayton Beck III (I think those dynastic numerals are kind of suspect but I will let it pass until I meet the guy.)

Last year I enjoyed Andrew Peters class quite a lot so I decided to repeat the experience and double the commitment.

As I mentioned before, the materials list from Mrs. McGraw was outrageously expensive and not the most health conscious. But I did prepare the canvases in the way she suggested by using a knife and a mix of maroger and white flake (poisonous white lead in both ingredients, let's not kid ourselves) . These are the same materials her teacher Mr. David Leffel uses and he is 74 years old and cancer free as far as I can tell. So the point is that I will try this mix once and see if my painting takes off like a rocket or just flutter ambiguously close to where I was before. Mr. Beck's material list was a lot more accessible and I suspect that it will do just fine. I specially liked the traditional artists panels he recommended and that I tinted with burn umber and ultramarine blue.
I also received today my silver filberts so I am all ready and trying to keep my judgemental nature in check . An open mind is 50% of a class requirement. The other 50% is showing up, to paraphrase Woody Allen. Apparently there was another hidden 200% in pricey utensils!

1 comment:

Connie said...

Be sure to do some posts on your experiences when you get back. A really good workshop is quite inspiring, I think, although I have also experienced the large and expensive supply list. I found that some of the supplies I bought were not even used by me or the instructor. Oh, well.