Friday, September 3, 2010

Portrait Drawing with Angela Cunningham

Last week I took a portrait drawing workshop with Angela Cunningham at the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas in Asheville. It was quite an experience, six hours a day in a darkened studio drawing in a very focused and precise way. In pencil. One drawing only.

The class was a condensed version of drawing practice at the Grand Central Academy in NYC, where Angela is a fourth-year student and instructor. She is a wonderful teacher, patient and approachable, serious about the work yet relaxed. Her lectures and demos are direct, clear and informative--she doesn't get sidetracked, distracted, or ahead of herself or her students--and her critiques are helpful, specific and kind.

Our model, Elisabeth Guibert Thomas, was ideal. Her face is beautiful and interesting, with great structure. (She's also a fun and interesting person.) The other students came from a variety of backgrounds but all are accomplished artists, though not all were familiar with the "classical realist" approach. Angela's blog has photos of the class in progress and of some of our results, mine included: