What is this course about?
Deze cursus wordt in het Engels gegeven.
Over the first three days we will work on a series of rapid and longer duration drawings in charcoal, pastel and oil paint. Days 3 and 4 will be for painting.
Day 1: Introduction. Ways to approach drawing; working from inside the form, and working with mass and tonal value.
Day 2: Drawing with light, and freeing contour line.
Day 3: Exploring mark making.
Day 4: Drawing with oil paint and pastel, two half day life poses working with oil paint.
Day 5: One day oil painting.
This course is designed to help the student further develop their skills in drawing and painting the figure from life whilst also enabling an increase in the expressive aspects of technique.
Under Alan’s guidance, students will explore different aspects of representation; of different ways to begin drawing, working from inside the form, drawing with light, line, mark-making, and working with oil paint, to deepen understanding of these aspects and enlarge their creative potential. Working with life models, questions will arise of our relationship to mistakes and accuracy, finish, atmosphere and emotion, as well as sensitivity to the model and our materials.
The consideration of accuracy of observation and measurement will be looked at in relation to freedom of expression, exploration of materials and engagement with an expressive and individual creative language. We will consider composition, approaches to drawing with paint, colour palettes, and finding the “story” of a painting in technique.
Students will receive regular one-to-one guidance throughout the course, as well as presentations showing the relevant work of both historical and contemporary figurative artists.
For who?
This course would suit students who have some experience and want to improve their skills or develop a more loose/expressive approach.
About the teacher
Alan McGowan is a Scottish artist whose figurative life painting is noted for its expressive brushwork and dynamic use of colour in combination with lively and sensitive draughtsmanship.
His painting has featured at the BP Portrait exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Threadneedle Prize for Figurative Art, the Society of Portrait Sculptors exhibition and The Ruth Borchard self portrait exhibition as well as regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy. In 2014 he was a semi-finalist in the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the year and his work is featured in the international painting annual review INPA5, published in 2016 by Manifest in Cincinatti USA.
He has taught at a number of art institutions including the National Portrait Gallery London, The Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin and Edinburgh College of Art. He has exhibited widely in the UK, regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy, and in New York, Lisbon, Helsinki, South Korea and Prague, and his work appears in several public collections including that of the Royal Scottish Academy and Stirling University.
Book publications of his work include The Language of the Body (2012) and Unstill Life (2017) .
