Location: Cole Art Studio, located on the lower level of Cole Gallery. 107 5th Ave S, Edmonds WA 98020

Description: Students will need to bring a prepared board or canvas along with a few reference photos you'd like to paint from. (No photos? No problem! Angela will have plenty of reference images available to use in class.) Together, you'll create an expressive monochromatic portrait using bold, confident brushwork and playful accent color on top.

A friendly tip: If you're new to portrait painting, Angela recommends leaving photos of family and friends at home for now. Learning with faces you don't know takes the pressure off capturing a perfect likeness, making it much easier to focus on building your skills and enjoying the process.

We'll begin by exploring simple drawing techniques and easy-to-use grid methods that help you nail your proportions. Then it's time to paint! You'll learn to see and paint values first, before adding pops of accent color and lively, expressive brushstrokes that bring your portrait to life.

By the end of the workshop, you'll have a finished portrait, practical techniques you can use repeatedly, and—most importantly—the confidence to keep painting portraits long after the class is over.

How to Prepare for Class

Buy your support, whether it’s a canvas or a board, and be sure to add a coat of paint that will be used as your underpainting.

Angela will be demonstrating on a board that has been primed with white gesso (one coat for a pre-primed board, three if raw wood) and then coated with a layer of Gold Gesso (made by Daniel Smith). You could use a layer of acrylic paint in the color you prefer instead of gesso if you’d rather. Any color will work—but make sure it’s a different color than the one you intend to paint the portrait in.

Some fun color combinations:

• Silver metallic underpainting + bright pink portrait + turquoise accents

• Gold metallic underpainting + orange portrait + blue accents

• Bright pink underpainting + blue portrait + purple accents

• Play with some color options in your sketchbook before you arrive—or I can help provide some inspiration when you get to class. Just be sure to put down a first coat to get rid of the white background.

Supply List

I’ve included affiliate links to Amazon, but please support your local art supply stores as often as you can. ArtSpot in downtown Edmonds is a great option!

Paint

M.Graham Acrylic Paint is my favorite brand, but use the artist’s quality paint you prefer.

• Titanium White: https://amzn.to/4gSXaZG

• Featured color: Choose a featured color for your portrait and a darker color that can be used to give you rich dark tones. For example, for a turquoise painting, I would bring a tube of turquoise and maybe a tube of ultramarine blue or some other dark blue value.

• Accent co lour: Decide what your accent color will be. If in doubt about what that should be, bring all your paint and we can go through it and determine a good option.

• OPTIONAL: Mars Black — an opaque black for the edges of your paintings.

• OPTIONAL: Gesso or acrylic paint in metallic gold or silver if you’d like to add metallic elements to your painting, or any color or neon paint for your under-painting. Whatever you choose will just pop through in places.

Support

I will be painting the portrait on an 8x10-inch cradled panel.

Brushes

• Large “Witchy” brush — flat or bright, synthetic bristles, about 1/2-inch, that has been roughed up (either an old brush, or buy a brush and take it outside and rub it against the concrete until it looks rough): https://amzn.to/4pVT6ff

• Synthetic Filbert Brush, size 4 — a little less than 1/2-inch wide: https://amzn.to/46XUV2J

• Synthetic Filbert Brush, size 2 — a little less than 1/4-inch wide: https://amzn.to/48PyCid

• Script Liner brush: https://amzn.to/48hdYHI

Other

• 9x12-inch paper palette — feel free to use any palette you like: https://amzn.to/4pMW85w

• Ruler — to help create a grid for your drawing if you’re not comfortable freehand drawing a portrait.

• Pencil — for sketching and note-taking.

• Water jug: https://amzn.to/4mTznKy

• Palette knife: https://amzn.to/4gXsruG

• Paper towel — I like Blue Shop Towels: https://amzn.to/3IzCCJc

• OPTIONAL: Nitrile gloves — if you’d like to keep your hands clean as you work. I will be wearing them, but it’s not necessary.

  • Size small: https://amzn.to/435Tiid

  • Size medium: https://amzn.to/46Sjmi5

  • Size large: https://amzn.to/46V1tiL

Registered students can email Angela with any questions at: abandurkaart@gmail.com