Camp in Kentfield

As the summer continues to keep me busy with camps I am also working on a few other surprises I hope to share with you soon. In the meantime I want to quickly let you see the amazing portraits the artists made in last weeks private camp in Kentfield. The age of the children ranged from 5-10. We studied the face all week long looking intently and training our artists eye. Each day we specifically looked at just one feature on the face (ie: eyes, mouth, nose, etc.) and then compiled our new learned knowledge into an 11x14 canvas painted with acrylics (using only primary colors)!

Talking about the nose and realizing that it is made up of mostly shadows and highlights. Learning also how to blend our pencil lines to create contour.

Eyes, the window to the soul as I like to say. Well, if this is true this group has souls that soar: vivid, colorful, dramatic, detailed and focused.

Although these look daunting at this step, this is the layered technique the students were taught. We began with the background colors, mixed together primary colors to create a skin tone, then measured where the eyes would be placed on the oval shape. We then let this dry to begin again the next day.

And with a lot of incredible focus over the five days that it took to create these masterpieces, this is Ana's result of her self-portrait. I love it (and so did she!)