Tuesday's figure class with Don Hatfield

Tuesday's painting class with megastar Don Hatfield was really inspirational. The class was packed and the energy level was high. I will talk more and add to this post. He wanted to see BIG SHAPES and every shape a color. So this is my effort after a 3 hour pose. No details and just the big shapes. It was fun.

....Okay its now Wednesday morning and I'm starting to process all that transpired yesterday. Don Hatfield has been in the Art business a long time. He has been at the top of the art wave when women in sun dresses walking miscreants on the beach were hot. He's the guy who made it really big in that genre. Selling more prints than anyone on the planet showing these beach scenes was Don's signature. He is teaching a class at Patris ' Studio in Sacramento in a real urban setting. The atmosphere has that real gritty parisian left bank feeling.

As you set up, you never know once the model gets settled in if your position will be good or bad. I had an okay view and I decided to go for broke and paint the whole enchilada and push the colors as far as I could outta the tube as possible and still keep the values true to the form. So there was no limited palette or any other short cuts. It was raw gonzo for me on Tuesday. I'm glad I did not bring my camera as I would have brought home this painting and slicked it up with more detailing around the face and hands.

I worked my warmest warms around the face. Since the light had a very warm cast I used Cad yellow as the overarching temperature that would affect all colors. I also decided to use complimentarys to grey down andy local color in a shape. So even if I had Terra Rosa and Burnt Sienna on the palette I did not use them a whole lot...only at the layin stage did I use them. The aim was to get the light and I wanted to use bright colors of the color wheel to offset each other. So you can see that I used a violet in the shadow aea of the face as the cool that would make the goldens on her face sing. One thing of not, The blue behind her is also catching some warm light and to tie in the figure with the background, the blue local color must feel that it is being affected by the same light source. This photo of the painting came out too light towards the top . It is actually a wee wee bit darker.

I would have loved to have finished the hands and face...and it is taking every ounce of restraint
in my being NOT to go back in and touch it up. It is what it is. A study. I learned alot and Don is a good teacher.

We had dinner afterwards and I got to know Don on a personal level. He is a character just like me...he has an opinion on everything. He invited me over to his Studio so keep an eye out when " On Being Frank" travels to pastoral Napa and enters the Hatfield Kingdom.


______



My next post will be about being a good teacher. Since I have taught at the Academy of Art University and also teach workshops I have some definite opinions on the matter and I feel I need to put them on digital paper.

_____