New York Report 3

On one weekend in the city I attended a 3 day still life workshop at Grand Central Atelier.  Even though I have a lot of experience with still life, the instructor, Katie Whipple, caught my interest. In her mid-20's, she is already an accomplished painter and draftswoman. I like the intimacy and simplicity of her work. In the workshop I learned how organized and meticulous she is in the design and execution of those simple pieces.

When she showed us a selection of fruits and vegetables. I picked the Romanesco cauliflower. I have always wanted to paint one. Now that I have tried, I still want to paint one!

This was a preliminary effort. I hope this summer I can snag a nice one, with lots of pretty leaves, at the South Anchorage farmer's market, and give it the full treatment.

Thanks to Katie, I did a passable sketch. She helped me understand what I was looking at, since all the little fractals hypnotized me to the point of near blindness. With her help, I was able to see the essential forms. Then it was possible. Next one will be better!

Report from New York, Part 2

All my instructors emphasized the importance of values. In this context, value refers to the lightness or darkness of a section of a drawing, painting, or print. Very dark areas are referred to as "low" value, and very light areas as "high" value. To depict anything in a realistic manner, the values must be rendered correctly, which is harder than it sounds. Conceivably, one could work with two, three, or beyond twenty levels of value. We did lots of value studies.

This drawing (18 x 24) was a month-long value study. The model posed for 20 days, 3 hours a day (with breaks), giving me a rare opportunity to develop the drawing. However, I made the mistake of adding the background somewhat late in the process, only to discover that I had to change all the values of the figure, in order for the whole image to make spatial sense. Lesson learned!

The model below was beginning a 4 week pose, but I had to leave at the end of 4 days. I sped up my process, but the drawing (18 x 24) is unfinished. I was struck by the model's dignified bearing, and wanted to do her justice. It would have been very satisfying to show the rich darks of the shadows moving down the figure from the head, through the arm, along the leg, to the feet. Even so, I learned much from this drawing. 

My color studies over the last few years, combined with all that practice on values, helped me greatly on this 2 week figure study. Again, a wonderful model. 

Our figure painting instructor, Dan Thompson, gave me permission to be as colorful with this piece as possible, which was lots of fun. As noted, it is just a study (20 x 24), and my time ran out before I could finish that extended arm and hand.

Next post, a short tutorial on etching.

Report from New York, Art Students League Part 1

I spent the month of October in New York, attending classes at the Art Students League. I was following in the footsteps of my grandfather, Jack Lambert. He attended the Art Students League approximately 100 year ago, then went on to be a well known political cartoonist, as well as a portraitist and sculptor. I had fun picturing him working alongside me in the same studios!

My instructors, Michael Grimaldi for figure drawing, Dan Thompson for figure drawing and painting, and Bill Behnken for printmaking, were all outstanding. I also admire and appreciate the models who pose for ASL classes. They maintain the same position during every class period for up to 4 weeks. Their talent and professionalism are key to the student experience.

Our instructors emphasized the importance of understanding, at great depth, the energy and structure of a living body. In the drawing below, if you look very closely, you will see that I made lines going through the figure, noting the angle of hips, ribcage, head, and feet in relation to the entire figure. (The lines are easier to see if you click on the image to enlarge.) I also found anatomical landmarks, such as the top of the pelvis, and the connection point of the thigh and hip bones. Learning to get these angles and structures right saves a lot of trouble later on! This was a 20 minute pose.

Later in the month we worked with much shorter poses, and I found that practice had brought me some progress. Below is a page from my last week at ASL, four 5-minute poses (the arrows indicate light direction.)

I got to work on the same kind of "starting moves" in Dan Thompson's painting class. In the oil sketches below, I tried to capture the model's gesture and energy, while also noting the physical structures most key to the pose.

On this next one you can see Dan Thompson's visual notes on the right side, helping me to see how to keep the whole figure as open as possible as I worked.

This is not glamorous stuff, but it is very important to the skill and craft of being a painter. If anyone reading this went to an art school where these things were not taught, I know you are jealous reading this! Next post, a little more color, I promise.

Report from my new Classical Still Life classes

Here are some photos from the classical technique still life workshop I taught over the past two weekends. My students did their final paintings after completing monochrome underpaintings and color studies. Go to the Upstairs Studio blog to see a longer report, and to view work by the other Upstairs Studio artists.

You can also go to the Upstairs Studio website to find out about studio events and to download the schedule of classes. It's a wonderful group of artists, and their gallery is well worth a visit next time you are out in Anchorage on a First Friday.

Interested in taking one of my workshops? I will be teaching two weekends a month through May. Dates are as follows: Feb 12/13 and 19/20, Mar 12/13 and 26/27, Apr 9/10 and 16/17, May 14/15 and 21/22. Contact me for details and to register at info@carollambertarts.com

This is student Katie Fallin working on her painting, having already done her underpainting and a color study.

This is student Susan Dixon, also bringing her final painting to completion.
Thanks to everyone who took part!

Report on Graydon Parrish color workshop, Part 1

My apologies for going so long without a post! First I was traveling, then my computer went in for repair. Finally I am back up to speed.

From July 19 to August 6 I was at Grand Central Academy in New York City, at a workshop on Munsell color theory, taught by artist Graydon Parrish. The Munsell system allows the artist to think about color in a systematic way, according to value, hue, and chroma (chroma refers to the intensity, or luminous strength, of a given color.)

Here is instructor Graydon Parrish giving a demonstration on identifying hue, value, and chroma. After this, we all got closely acquainted with our palette knives, for hours, no, weeks of color mixing.

We created "strings" of color at various levels of chroma, value, or both. My palette, below, shows three strings of high chroma blue-green, yellow-red, and red. Along the top and right edge you can see a string (slightly contaminated in one spot with red!) of a neutral tone, from darkest to lightest.) The writing above each dab of color is the Munsell notation for the value and chroma, in the given hue. One outcome of this training is, you can always match paint you mixed at some earlier date!

I mixed these strings for the "spheres" exercise. We painted 3 sets of 3 spheres. (First we painted the spheres we used as models, then we painted them in 2D.) The first 3 are neutral, with local color in the dark, medium, and light ranges of value. The second 3 are yellow-red, or flesh tones, in low, medium, and high chroma. The third 3 are high chroma spheres in three different hues. This was actually pretty difficult.


The sphere exercise applies to a number of practical problems in our paintings: the representation of volume, of changes in value, of changes in chroma, and of very high chroma objects.

The photo above is of artist Ruza Bagaric's lovely sphere work.

In another exercise, artist Marge Grinnell created strips, painting each with color she had mixed, then she used them as models for her painting, in which she explores the value and chroma variations that occur in light and shadow.

Artist Victoria Herrera worked on this study of a lily, using the Munsell approach.

These lessons will pay off as we work on our own compositions. I know my approach to color will change with this and further study. For one thing, I have a new ability to create, use, and appreciate neutral tones in any hue, and at any value. I have long admired the subtle use of neutrals in paintings from earlier ages, and will now try to introduce more neutrals into my own paintings.

More on my New York fun in Part II.

Report on Graydon Parrish color workshop Part 2

This is the second installment of my report on the Graydon Parrish color workshop at Grand Central Academy.

Just to revisit some goals of the workshop, here is one more photo of student work. Most of us did the gray scale exercise in 10 steps. Artist Ruza Bagaric got so fascinated by the gray scale she tried to find as many value steps as time allowed. I think I see 36 steps here. Such thoroughness pays off in increased visual sensitivity and accuracy.


Many of us accompanied instructor Graydon Parrish to the Metropolitan Museum to look at paintings, with special attention to the 19th century. Here Graydon and students view Rosa Bonheur's terrific painting of the Paris Horse Market. We are taking in the excitement and energy of this work, and also appreciating Bonheur's masterly use of value, hue, and chroma.


We all admired this large painting of St Joan by Bastien LePage. He has created an other-worldly, magical space by keeping value and chroma almost constant. The mood is set by the subtle changes of hue, while the very few high value notes draw our eyes to her transfixed face.

We took a close look at this stunning small piece by Jean Leon Gerome, for his daring use of high chroma blue in the sky. Most of us learn to downplay the sky color in our landscapes. Gerome's color harmonies, tight composition, and dramatic variations of value result in a completely believable scene of heat, action and sunlight.

If you are interested in the craft and theory of classical painting, you might enjoy the video of a lecture entitled, "Technique as Influence: The Painter's Odyssey of Craft and Communication" by Graydon Parrish at this link.

To view a lecture by Graydon Parrish on his recent monumental painting commemorating the 9/11 tragedy, go to this link.

And now, friends, you will not hear from me for another few weeks. I am about to go on my yearly artist trip to Denali National Park. This time I plan to spend some time doing drawings and making some color notes (using the Munsell system), though I also plan to complete a few paintings while I am there. Here's hoping for fine weather!

Workshop with Peter Van Dyck

While I was in Seattle last month I attended a wonderful seminar at Gage Academy with visiting instructor Peter Van Dyck. Links to see some of his work are here and here. He emphasized basic concepts rather than any particular technique, so I can apply what we learned not only to still life, but also to landscape, interiors, and figures. He also showed us some neat, simple tools to make for ourselves to help with drawing and composition.


Painting by Peter Van Dyck


Here is one of his demo pieces. He is interested in the flow of energy across the picture plane, and in using values to both connect and differentiate big areas of the painting. His approach to drawing is to work toward accuracy gradually, both by trusting one's eye, and by also using tools to measure the angles, connections, and masses as they really occur in the composition.

His tools are simple and easy to use. Here's how he measures the comparative size of different elements: he doesn't hold up his thumb or a pencil, he holds up a measuring tape! He uses a viewfinder to double check all the angles, and also a simple device like calipers, made of two long pieces of wood he holds up to his eye. When I got home my buddy Paul made me a set.

Next post I will show some of my work from the class, but for now my PC is down and I am using Paul's. Also, we are heading out to Denali next week where I will paint some Big plein aire. I hope to have something worth posting in a few weeks.