John Smolko Workshop
On Friday in Seattle at the CPSA 16th Annual International Exhibition I took John Smolko’s workshop. I’ve always admired his work, and his distinct use of colorful, energetic lines in his pieces. John has been an award winner at the Annual shows multiple years. An experienced art teacher, he led us quickly through the basics of scribbling - a form of crosshatching used to weave together colors - and then into our morning exercise of creating block letters against a glowing background. In the afternoon we were able to choose from a range of subjects - pictures of John’s students, still life objects. I chose a student’s picture, and decided to keep in the theme of the colorful palette I had used for the morning exercise. With about 2-3 hours of work, the piece isn’t completed yet - but I’m really happy with the progress on the piece. I plan on working on it further and finishing it. Here’s a pic of the demonstration, and a scan of what I completed during the workshop:
August 8th, 2008 at 7:34 pm Quote
I like the colors you chose! Excellent portrait too! I’m sort of envious; I thought John Smolko’s workshop would be fun to go to. Wow… I’m really taken by the use of warm and cool in the face.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:01 pm Quote
Thanks Peggy! The reference photo from the workshop was black and white - it really helped me be a little more creative with the color. I liked the idea of a color map based on values, going from warm to cool - I may try it with some of my pics.