First Friday Demo, a Slotted Spoon

On Friday, February 4, I did another all-day demonstration for the First Friday festivities at the Upstairs Studio gallery. Thanks to Daniel, of Daniel Jackson Photography, for this photo of me at work! What follows is my step by step progress.

This is the basic sequence I take people through in my weekend classes on classical still life technique. There is still room in the workshops coming up on the next 2 weekends, and beginners are welcome. Please contact me at info@carollambertarts.com if you are interested. There are also classes planned in March, April, and May.


Here is the set-up. This old slotted spoon came from a friend's grandmother's kitchen. Another friend gave me the deer antler. These objects seemed to get along well.


This is the block in for the composition.


At this stage, I am working up the values in monochrome. I am also thinking about the final colors, since this set up was mostly monochrome anyway.


Here is my first color pass.


This is what the painting looked like at the end of a rather long day. It isn't finished: the antler needs more modeling, and I will adjust values and sharpen some edges.

At some point I will post my demo paintings in their finished state. Thanks for your interest!

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!

A demonstration painting at Upstairs Studio

Friday was art opening day in Anchorage, and my first opening at Upstairs Studio, where I now have studio space. (Click here for more details about this new development, I'm very excited about it!)

I celebrated the occasion by doing a painting in the gallery. I love doing demos because people are always interested, and this was no exception. Lots of people stopped to visit with me, and I got to introduce folks to what I do and how I do it. Many thanks to fellow artist Erin Osinkosky for taking this photo and the one of my hand below!

For those of you who couldn't make it, below are some photos of the work in progress.


This is what the painting looked like at the end of the evening. I'm not saying it's done, exactly, but it's pretty close.

Sometimes fingers are good brushes.

This is the first color pass.

Before the color goes on, I often do a monochrome underpainting.

Here is the first stage, the initial sketch where the basic composition takes form.

I may do another demonstration painting at the next First Friday, please come by if you can.