Figure Color Study

Figure Color Study
8" x 6"  Oil
$75.00 + $10. s/h

I did this color study the other day while visiting Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia.  I sat in on a class that my sister, Natalie Italiano, was teaching.  The color class teaches seeing the light hitting the figure (or form) and how that light changes the local color;  making strong color statements; and constantly comparing one color mass to surrounding color masses.  Some of the points about color:  color masses are painted in in relationship to the masses next to  them;  learn to see color by looking at color relationships;  in a color study start with the brightest, easiest to see color.

I've been painting this week in my sister's studio and will post some of the pictures soon.    

Studio Incamminati Workshop Day 5 -- Last Day

This is our class from the Studio Incamminati workshop, Color Study: Still Life and Figure Painting for Art Educators, taught by Natalie Italiano. Teachers came from Utah, Colorado (me!) & Ohio, as well as locally NJ and Pa. There are lots of workshops offered here. It's a pretty amazing atelier with incredible facilities.

Again, we had a critique after the 2 days of figure studies.

Here I am w/ my studies from the last day...seems to be a little glare on the paintings.

It was a great week. Tomorrow I'm off to the Jersey shore. I'm looking forward to that, as we don't have beaches in Colorado.

Studio Incamminati Workshop Day 4

Today in the Studio Incamminati workshop, Color Study: Still Life and Figure Painting for Art Educators, taught by Natalie Italiano, we continued to learn to see color by looking at color relationships, but with a model. Here Natalie is starting the study with a grisaille drawing.

In this photo she's blocked in the first four color notes: the brightest, easiest to see notes.

Here's her color study almost completed.

These are the 4 color studies I completed today. Studio Incamminati has an extensive palette which is listed on their website under supplies. Many of these colors are not in my normal palette and it's really exciting to use them!

Studio Incamminati Workshop Day 3

Today in the Studio Incamminati workshop, Color Study: Still Life and Figure Painting for Art Educators, taught by Natalie Italiano, we continued to learn to see color by looking at color relationships. Each day the still life set-ups have gotten progressively more complex; today's had boxes and simple still life objects, which created many planes of light on color. In Natalie's demo above, she is emphasizing laying in the color masses in relationship to the surrounding masses.

This class is very organized, sequential and well thought out, as well as fun! Today we received handouts on the color philosophies of Henry Hensche, Nelson Shanks (the founder of Studio Incamminati) and Lois Griffel (a student of Hensche's).


These are the 3 color studies I completed today.

Workshop at Studio Incamminati

I am spending the week in Philadelphia taking a color workshop, Color Study: Still Life and Figure Painting for Art Educators, at Studio Incamminati. Color study is a way of learning to see and understand color as the effect of light on form. It was inspired by artist Henry Hensche, and shows us how to see beyond an object’s local color and to understand how light, whether naural or artificial, influences how we see color. Instructor Natalie Italiano (in the above photo) is explaining how to see and paint light and shadow masses as individual colors using painted boxes.

This is my first piece. We painted a simple grisaille of a box which included about 5-7 color notes/shapes. We then started by painting the most easily seen color, which is usually a color in light. In this case the top of the box (in my painting, the top is a little brighter/lighter, I don't usually photograph my paintings indoors.)

This is my 2nd piece. Again, I started w/ the top of the box, in my painting it is a little more violet than the photo indicates. I can see here, that I should have made the table cloth a little warmer. That's what tomorrow is for!