Workshop: Portraits in Acrylics or Oils with Gary Spencer

Saturday, 25th January 2025

10:00am to 4:00pm

Charles Morris Hall, Tyttenhanger Green, Tyttenhanger, ST ALBANS, Hertfordshire, AL4 0RN

The hall has plenty of free parking.

Gary Dean Spencer has been teaching various types of art (in schools, colleges and privately) for over 30 years. He has worked as an illustrator and interior effects specialist, as well as creating and exhibiting his own painting work, with work in private and public collections across the UK, Europe and the US, and works to specific commissions as well as producing more personal experimental work.

The workshop will be based around the idea of using layers of acrylic to develop a portrait image - based on a reference that I will supply. These references are already manipulated artistically to include a specific way of seeing them in a way that is more related to painting processes, rather than neutral photos. However, if you personally would rather bring your own image, feel free to do so.

I will be using simple gridding as a way of quickly establishing basic proportions, so do bring a ruler, pencil and eraser. If you would rather draw freehand, feel free to do so too.

I will be using a range of round and flat brushes of varying size - and a basic acrylic kit of primary magenta, cyan blue and yellow - plus black, titanium white and a brown (burnt umber in this case). I will also have a few additional colours (such as a cadmium red, yellow ochre, an orange, green,or purple) as I see fit on the day - some of which may be borrowed. If you have palette knives, they may come in handy if you like to use them too.

NOTE: The exact colours you use will depend on which reference you select, as this task will not be about everyone working to a single reference. I will send all those coming examples of images to select from, by email, and also state which one I will be doing nearer the time. If you do not have the specific colours I mentioned, not to worry, and just bring along whatever colours you have.

NOTE 2: I will be demonstrating this session in acrylics, though some of you may prefer to use oils. These do not layer in the same way as acrylics, but I will still advise on how to develop these studies too.

NOTE 3: I will be using a small canvas of 40 x 50 cm. You can also work on primed paper or board if you prefer.