The Beauty Within

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Learn to capture wonder, nostalgia, and contemplation in dreamy portraits using mixed media in our class.

What would it be like to capture a moment of wonder, contemplation, or warm nostalgia in a portrait? Although these subtle but powerful experiences are invisible, they often inspire creativity, hope, and a sense of connection. I invite you to tap into your own treasure trove of beautiful feelings within and learn to create inspiring portraits with me.

Inside this class, I will share with you a variety of tools and techniques to help you draw dreamy portraits with meaning. To do this, I will focus on three wonderful feelings – wonder, nostalgia, and contemplation – and then I will demonstrate how I express each feeling in a portrait combining graphite pencil, pastel, acrylic paint, and collage.

Lastly, I will provide image resources for you to use, however; feel free to find your own images that express your own feelings about each topic. In fact, I encourage it!

  • Two Sheets of Hot Press, 140lb, Watercolor Paper, aprox. 11” x 17” or larger. I am using 11.69” x 16.53” Arches Hot Press Water Color Pad Or you can buy one large individual sheet and then cut it into several sheets.
  • One 12” x 16” Gessoed Surface that is sturdy. It could be a stretched canvas, 300lb watercolor paper, or a hard wood panel.
  • Several 8.5”x11” sheets of your favorite drawing paper. Your paper shouldn’t be any thicker than scrapbook paper – aprox. 24lb to 60lb.
  • A board to tape your watercolor paper to and some Masking or Painters Tape.
  • Graphite Pencils- assorted soft and hard
  • Erasers: White Plastic Eraser & a Kneadable Eraser.
  • Blending Stumps or Q-tips
  • A Basic Set of Nu-Pastels.
  • However, if you can afford pan pastels they are even better for creating backgrounds. If you opt for pan pastels, you will also need to have a stick of black and white pastel to go with it.
  • Recommended Colors are: Dark Blue, Medium Blue, Light Blue, a Violet or Purple, a Pink or Magenta Tint, Yellow, White, and Black.
  • Acrylics - A basic set of artist grade acrylics. Recommended Colors are: Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Green, White, Black, Burnt Sienna, & Yellow Ochre.
  • Acrylic Matte Varnish
  • Matte Fixative
  • A Basic Set of Acrylic Paint Brushes
  • A Fan Brush
  • 1”to 2” Foam Brush or Golden Talon Brush (for brushing on acrylic varnish)
  • Decorative Collage Papers
    or Download and Print Patterns Found on www.Unsplash.com
  • Craft Knife or Small Scissors for cutting collage elements
  • Cutting Matt or a Piece of Cardboard
  • A Compass for Drawing Circles
    or a round plate you can trace.
  • Texture Cards for Mixed Media
    or you can use a sheet of cardboard or an old credit card to make your own
  • A Nail File, plastic knife, palette knife, or something comparable for shaving stick pastels safely. If you have pan pastels don’t worry about it.
  • Pallet for your paint
  • Water & Paper Towels

‍Optional Supplies:

  • Various Templates or Paper Doilies
  • Decorative Foam Stamps or your own rubber stamps
  • Round Foam Sponges for creating textures
  • Clickable Eraser for fine details
  • Gold Metallic Acrylic Paint
  • Black and white dry stick pastel
  • White Gel Pen
  • A Brayer or an Old Credit Card or something you can use to safely press down your collage.

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