N2N Gallery is proud to launch a new series Portrait Oil Painting Masterclasses with Ukrainian artist Katerina Spirtus.

Fascinated by Italian art and encouraged by her mother and grandmother, Katerina Spirtus started painting at a very young age and her journey reached the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kiev, which she graduated in 2009. Along her artistic path, people were the ones to play a major role. Katerina got inspired by their stories, their successes and failures, their achievements and their wisdom. With the help of the brush she started portraying people the way there are, bringing on the canvas their inner beauty, sparkling in their eyes, in their wrinkles or in their smiles. Katerina truly believes in David Weiss’s words, according to whom “we become artists not because we like it so much, but because we don’t have any other way”.

On her first visit to UAE, Katerina is excited to be teaching the UAE residents and together with N2N Gallery she is inviting all established and aspiring artists to join the master classes and plunge into the complex and fascinated world of portrait painting.

Course Structure:

The masterclass will take place: from 26th of November – 1st of December 2016, having the following structure:

Day 1

• Introduction to the course.
• The portrait: understanding the concepts of volume, lighting & character.
• The concept of composition. Silhouette.
• Creating the sketch for the future work (pencil on paper).

Day 2

• Sketching of the head by charcoal.
• Understanding the concept of the structure of the head.

Day 3

• Hard and soft edges. The possibilities of different brushes.
• Developing the painting of the face elements.
• The underpainting technique.

Day 4

• Mixing paints. The construction of the palette. The concept of warm-cold.
• Painting of model, applying the skills that have been studied previously.
• Brief technology of oil paints.
• The distribution of texture in the highlights and shadows.
• Study of the facial parts.

 Day 5

• Painting clothes.
• The study of the folds forms.
• Shadows.
• Painting the hair.
• The background.
• Writing the figure as a whole.

Day 6

• Finalizing the work.
• Generalization.
• Working out the full picture.

Brief history of portraits:

Although few works survive today, portraiture’s roots are likely found in prehistoric times. In the art of the ancient civilizations of the Fertile Crescent, especially in Egypt, depictions of rulers and gods abound. However, most of these were done in a highly stylized fashion, and most in profile, usually on stone, metal, clay, plaster, or crystal. From literary evidence we know that ancient Greek painting included portraiture, often highly accurate if the praises of writers are to be believed, but no painted examples remain. Roman portraiture adopted traditions of portraiture from both the Etruscans and Greeks, and developed a very strong tradition, linked to their religious use of ancestor portraits, as well as Roman politics.

The Renaissance marked a turning point in the history of portraiture. Partly out of interest in the natural world and partly out of interest in the classical cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, portraits—both painted and sculpted—were given an important role in Renaissance society and valued as objects, and as depictions of earthly success and status. Painting in general reached a new level of balance, harmony, and insight, and the greatest artists (Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael) were considered “geniuses”, rising far above the tradesman status to valued servants of the court and the church. Romantic artists who worked during the first half of the 19th century painted portraits of inspiring leaders, beautiful women, and agitated subjects, using lively brush strokes and dramatic, sometimes moody, lighting. French artists Eugène Delacroix and Theodore Géricault painted particularly fine portraits of this type, especially dashing horsemen. The realist artists of the 19th century, such as Gustave Courbet, created objective portraits depicting lower and middle-class people. The Realists mostly gave way to the Impressionists by the 1870s.American artist Mary Cassatt, who trained and worked in France, is popular even today for her engaging paintings of mothers and children, as is Renoir. Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, both Post-Impressionists, painted revealing portraits of people they knew, swirling in color but not necessarily flattering. They are equally, if not more so, celebrated for their powerful self-portraits. Other early 20th-century artists also expanded the repertoire of portraiture in new directions. Fauvist artist Henri Matisse produced powerfulportraits using non-naturalistic, even garish, colors for skin tones. Cézanne’s relied on highly simplified forms in his portraits, avoiding detail while emphasizing color juxtapositions. Austrian Gustav Klimt’s unique style applied Byzantine motifs and gold paint to his memorable portraits.

Master classes duration: 26^th of November – 1^st of December 2016

Timings:

Part 1: Saturday 26^th of November

Morning group 10.00 to 13.00 / Evening group 15.00 – 18.00

Part2: Sunday 27^th of November to Thursday 1^st of December

Morning group 10.00 – 13.00 / Evening group 6.30 – 21.30

Part 3: Saturday 3^rd of December – Students Exhibition at N2N Gallery – Al Ain Tower

Registration:

To confirm your participation, please provide us the filled registration form and proof of payment for the course by 20^th of November 2016.

Course fee:  1500 AED / person (excluding supplies)

List of supplies required for the portrait master class

1. Field Easel
2. Wooden palette
3. Oil paint: titanium white; 38ml: ochre light, cadmium red light, cadmium lemon, cadmium lemon medium, cadmium orange, ultramarine blue light, emerald green, cobalt blue medium, cobalt violet, umbra burnt, mars black warm, mars brown, burnt natural Leningrad, natural Siena, dark purple, red rugged, Ararat green,  sky-blue, Neapolitan yellow-fawn, mars orange, Van Dyk dark cold brown, tioindigo red-brown.
4. Synthetic brushes flat (medium and small) size of all firms is different, approximately № 7, 5, 2, 14 and round synthetic very thin and thicker around № 1, 3 – oiler (not the smallest).
5. Turpentine 248 ml or odorless thinner or linseed oil or lacquer damarny.
6. Charcoal 1 stick
7. Simple sketchbook A4
8. Pencils: 6B, 2B soft & Eraser (soft)
9. Palette knives, medium size
10. Canvas: 50×60 & 30×40

Other materials to bring:

1. Cloth for wiping brushes
2. Apron to protect clothing
3. Plastic bag for rubbish
4. Kitchen towel
5. Soap*Please note that paint might drop on to clothing in the process of painting, wear something that is allowed to get messy