Kline Academy of Fine Art

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:59:00 +0000

TUESDAY NIGHT

UN-INSTRUCTED DRAWING

Nov 17th - Adrienne as Indian Gypsy

Live model, quick poses,

All mediums welcome, a relaxing and non-stressful atmosphere

complimentary beverages

Nov 17th, Tuesday -- 7:30 to 10:30pm

$20 or prepay for 4 and get 1 free

No one turned away for lack of funds

Pass this along to your art pals

Up coming Model List:

Nov 24th - Jennifer as Circus Performer

If you like what we do, and like what we have taught you...

the best way to thank us is to refer a friend

KLINE ACADEMY of FINE ART

www.klineacademy.com

3264 Motor Ave, LA 90034 (near National)

(310) 927-2436

Nicole as Little Bo Peep

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:38:00 +0000

TUESDAY NIGHT

UN-INSTRUCTED DRAWING

Nov 10th - Nicole as little Bo Peep

Live model, quick poses,

All mediums welcome, a relaxing and non-stressful atmosphere

complimentary beverages

Nov 10th, Tuesday -- 7:30 to 10:30pm

$20 or prepay for 4 and get 1 free

No one turned away for lack of funds

Pass this along to your art pals

Up coming Model List:

Nov 17th - Adrienne as indian Gypsy

If you like what we do, and like what we have taught you...

the best way to thank us is to refer a friend

KLINE ACADEMY of FINE ART

www.klineacademy.com

3264 Motor Ave, LA 90034 (near National)

(310) 927-2436

Burlesque was a hit

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:33:00 +0000

Burlesque was a hit!!!!

Twenty Artists in two completely dressed sets
had a great day of painting and drawing at Kline Academy thanks to the Gallery Girls.
Breakfast, lunch and snacks, wine and beverages, artists were treated royally
to an artful day.

Charcoal drawing by Artist Peggy Nichols.

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:05:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:20:00 +0000

TUESDAY NIGHT

UN-INSTRUCTED DRAWING

Nov 3rd - Maude as a Moulin Rouge

Maude is an exotic, beautiful woman

Live model, quick poses,

All mediums welcome, a relaxing and non-stressful atmosphere

complimentary beverages

Nov 3rd, Tuesday -- 7:30 to 10:30pm

$20 or prepay for 4 and get 1 free

No one turned away for lack of funds

Pass this along to your art pals

Up coming Model List:

Nov 10th - Nicole as Little Bo Peep

If you like what we do, and like what we have taught you...

the best way to thank us is to refer a friend

KLINE ACADEMY of FINE ART

www.klineacademy.com

3264 Motor Ave, LA 90034 (near National)

(310) 927-2436

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:15:00 +0000

TUESDAY NIGHT---

UN-INSTRUCTED DRAWING

Ludmilla as Fortune Teller

Live model, quick poses,

All mediums welcome, a relaxing and non-stressful atmosphere

complimentary beverages

Oct 27, Tuesday -- 7:30 to 10:30pm

$20 or prepay for 4 and get 1 free

No one turned away for lack of funds

Pass this along to your art pals

If you like what we do, and like what we have taught you...

the best way to thank us is to refer a friend

KLINE ACADEMY of FINE ART

www.klineacademy.com

3264 Motor Ave, LA 90034 (near National)

(310) 927-2436

Holiday Open House

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:18:00 +0000

Holiday Open House at Kline Academy
Sat. Dec 5 6pm to 9pm
Sun Dec 6 noon to 4pm

Student and faculty show and celebration of another fine year of painting and drawing.

Photos to come.

If you like what we do, and like what we have taught you...

the best way to thank us is to refer a friend

KLINE ACADEMY of FINE ART

www.klineacademy.com

3264 Motor Ave, LA 90034 (near National)

(310) 927-2436

TUESDAY NIGHT UN-INSTRUCTED DRAWING

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:53:00 +0000

TUESDAY NIGHT
UN-INSTRUCTED DRAWING

Oct 20th - Roxanne as the Black Widow

Roxanne is an exotic, beautiful woman

Live model, quick poses,

All mediums welcome, a relaxing and non-stressful atmosphere

complimentary beverages

Oct 20, Tuesday -- 7:30 to 10:30pm

$20 or prepay for 4 and get 1 free

No one turned away for lack of funds

Pass this along to your art pals

If you like what we do, and like what we have taught you...

the best way to thank us is to refer a friend

KLINE ACADEMY of FINE ART

www.klineacademy.com

3264 Motor Ave, LA 90034 (near National)

(310) 927-2436

Previous Sessions

MONO PRINT DAY

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:08:00 +0000

Mono Print Day

Instant gratification art making

Tuesday, October 27

Only 2 spaces left $125

For more info on Monoprinting:

http://www.klineacademy.com/mono-print/Untitled-1.htm
RSVP (310) 927-2436

Long Pose Workshop (Themed Painting & drawing workshop )

noreply@blogger.com (Xavier) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:21:00 +0000

This is 7 hour uninstructed workshop with 2 fantastic rooms, great models, music, a full lunch, snacks, drinks & desserts.

The girls will be dressed or undressed in sexy burlesque costumes and the sets will be decorated as well.

Food - Drinks - Music - inspire
and of course Great Models

DATE: Saturday, October 24th

TIME: 10am to 5pm

COST: $65
$10 extra for photographs
(payed to the model)

The Kline Accademy
3264 Motor Ave,
Los Angeles (
(310) 927-2436 Culver City), CA 90034
www.klineacademy.com

(It is just above National Blvd. Lots of free parking under the bridge

Please RSVP
by replying to this email or jenfabpat2@yahoo.com
or call Jennifer (818) 535-5761

Join Our Mailing List!

Working with foils...ahhh guilding

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:08:00 +0000

I feel like a kid sometimes when I work with foils. I love shinny things. But somehow when I introduce gilding into my work, I am transported back to a romantic time when gold and silver adorned the finest paintings and icons. It was used then to exaggerate the light/holiness of God or the Saint who was being painted.

I am using it in this painting to exaggerate a similar idea. For the last year and a half, I have been working on a series of icon inspired paintings and researching pre-christian- judeo religions where the feminine played the dominant role.

I used this set-up for my new painting and I thought it would be a perfect lesson for our Portrait Painting class that I teach on Wednesdays from 2-5pm. The stage was set with a shinny silver back-drop, Sara, our model wore a beautiful Asian red robe. The colors reflecting in her skin are beautiful.

I started the class off with a demo on how to block in the standing form. I had everyone prime their canvas with a cool medium gray. This time, I tried a new approach to see if it would help the students to achieve more accurate proportions. We predetermined the head size and marked off 7 1/2 head lengths on the canvas. (Sara's height). This helped most of those who were doing a full figure to stay within correct proportions. Next the block-in which concentrated mostly on the silhouette--no features, no detail. AND NO WHITE. I can't believe how hard it is for some to stay away from white in the beginning but trust me, if you concentrate on all the shadow shapes, connecting half tones and mid tones, you will be so much happier with the results.

I paint with and ahead of my students in order to give them a range of solutions to the many problems that arise in portrait and figure painting. This painting of Sara, "The Goddess" is almost finished and shows our students some of the color choices I made for shadows and skin tones. I jumped ahead of them by using photographs so I could study anticipate some of the challenges they will encounter. As an instructor you can't just talk the talk...you better know how to use the brush too!

In working with foils it is important to introduce the foil layer before the painting is finished. The reflected light is so intense that it obliterates all your other lights. After I applied the foil, I went back in to adjust my lights and intensify my darks using transparent glazes of Alizarine Crimson and Ultramarine Blue and Egyptian Violet. In the strongest whites, I am using an egg tempera mixture which I will explain later.

Here is the almost finished piece.

Progression of a Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:03:00 +0000

I finished "Mom's" portrait in February of this year and I have to say it is so much easier to paint someone you know really well.

Mom has Parkinson's disease and typical with that disease is the blank stare. Even though she still manages now and then to crack a sarcastic joke, she is really becoming less and less able to communicate. In this portrait I wanted to capture the reality of her situation. I guess my inspiration was Whistler's Mother, Arrangement in Grey and Black. Mine however is titled "I did the best I could." Meant to be a message to those who have selfishly left their parents to fend for themselves in their dark days. It is agony to see your Mother in a state of helplessness and vulnerability. I do the best I can and see her often and of course pay for her care but it really takes a village and we all need as much help as possible to care for our elderly. It is a gift to do service for others even when they were not saints. If we all just "... did the best we could."

Kline Academy Releases Portrait Painting DVD

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:48:00 +0000

We are SUPER EXCITED about our first in a series of instructional DVD's that illustrate the excellent teaching offered at Kline Academy.

Kline says it best: "I designed this program because I had a student (one) drop out due to frustration. She just couldn't "get it." My ego does not allow for defeat. So I stayed up nights trying to develop a system that would be understanding to any personality with any background, skill, whatever and came up with this system. And guess what? It really, really works! I actually tested the raw video on my students. I made them watch for 30 minutes then go back into the studio and paint and WOW! We were all amazed at their progress.

I am not claiming that just by watching the DVD you will become a great portrait artist. What I am claiming is that you will be better than you were."

This four hour DVD is a live demonstration filmed on location at the Kline Academy of Fine Art. Cheryl Kline will take you step by step in her unique process of painting portraits from a photograph. There are so many lessons in this DVD you will want to watch it again and again!

Secrets Revealed! This DVD will teach you how to:

Find facial proportions
Set your composition
Draw your model on the canvas
Block in the basic shapes
Define the shadow patterns
Mix beautiful skin tones
Refine edges
Painting Hair
Painting Drapery
Finishing touches
and much more....

Regardless of skill level, this instructional DVD wil enable the artist to approach their next portrait project with a step by step system which will bring more success to the development of their painting techniques and practice.

"Artists of all abilities will definitely learn something from watching this. Throughout the demo Cheryl inserts gems of information that might not be gained from many hours of practical classes. She is a natural teacher and gifted artist who gererously shares her experience and skill in this demo." Barbara Rae, Professional Artist, Royal Academician, London

"I just finished watching Cheryl Kline’s video “Painting Portraits from Photographs & Finishing with the live Model.” It is so compelling. From beginning to end, the video shows the step by step method of painting from the palette, mixing the paint, drawing the initial structure, placement of the different values and then finally finishing it by looking at the live model. One of the most valuable parts of the video is to see how she uses a limited palette to produce so many colors and how to apply those colors. It is also about really seeing. Any novice or experienced painter could learn so much from this video." Judith Corona

Professional Artist, Adjunct Professor of Art, Otis College of Art + Design, UCLA Extension, Los Angeles

To Order: Call Kline Academy at (310)927-2436

$99.00

Kline Academy News

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:27:00 +0000

Okay, Im a bad blogger, I have not been keeping up with this and I apologize
But here is an update.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:

Mono Print FUN Day, Feb 16, Monday 10am to 5pm $125.
We will provide all oil based inks, you bring your own paper and some personal items for reference. This is an instant gratification day so be prepared for Christmas in February because each print is a surprise and accidents and the unexpected make for fantastic prints. Limited to 5 people call today. (310) 927-2436

Action Painting The Figure with Stephen Wright, All day Saturday in March (call for start date) $125
This workshop will explore the ideas of figurative artists in thetwentieth century, centering on three of the giants in the figurative field; Giacometti, Bacon and Freud. This will be a fun and informative day, focusing on getting students to break out of their traditional painting techniques and explore their subjective sensibilities. The focus is on freedom, passion, experimentation and excitement.

Figure Drawing made easy! Wednesdays 11am - 1pm $40 per class Starts Feb. 18
Your instructor, Esmeralda Acosta will take you on a gentle journey to successful figure drawing by giving you a one, two, three approach to drawing the live, nude model. Esmeralda instructor has studied with the best figurative artists in town and has and has dedicated her life to drawing and perfecting her skills...we are lucky to have her! You will achieve success!

Tuesday night un-instructed drawing workshops 7:30pm to 10:30 pm. $20 for one time or prepay for 4 times and get 1 free.
Angie, our animation expert, started "Get-the-Lead-Out" (http://gettheleadout-workshop.blogspot.com/) for anyone who wanted a place to draw the live model on the west side of town. The difference with our workshop from others, is that all of ours are themed with a costume and simple set. Our’s costs a little more then the neighborhood YMCA but we are using top models from "The Gallery Girls" and in our space you can sit closer than most settings. Themes range from "Geisha Vampire" ... "Insane Asylum" ..Tank Girl." Call or just drop in

Outdoor Landscape painting with Gary Blackwell, BFA, Distinguished Pastelist, Plein Air Painter. Fridays at 10am - 1pm $50 per class (pre-paid monthly)
This month, we will be exploring neighborhood painting- "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" will take on a new meaning when we show you how to capture the magic of an urban street. Many artists have made their fame painting these scenes like Wayne Thiebaud, Edward Hopper, and many others. This class is a bargain as you will be learning from an award winning artist who gives you more than 100%.

Foundation Drawing for Painters saturdays 9:30am - 12:30pm- $50 per class (pre-paid monthly)
This classis a great way to either begin your venture into art or to enhance the art skills you already have. This is an in-studio class with an easy-going atmosphere. We teach you how to "see" and draw all the troublesome forms, core shadows, cast shadows and reflected lights, etc that present themselves in all paintings and compositions whether you are drawing/painting people, landscape, still life or abstract.

The Atelier Workshop Mondays from 11am to 2pm -$60 per class (pre-paid monthly)
This all encompassing class will transport you to a typical renaissance studio where artists are doing many things. Hal Yaskulka, your instructor is Rembrandt reincarnated! We have a live nude model for those more advanced students who are working on anatomy, figure drawing and painting, Cast head drawing in Charcoal, old master painting copies and de-constructions in gray, along with still life painting and how to grind your own paint also in the same studio. Each exercise will be designed to bring you closer to the ultimate challenge of live figure painting and how to be a better figurative artist. This is the same studio atmosphere that many of the masters before us engaged in to become great artists. Hal will teach you how to draw from a simple "envelope" to more advanced form development, demonstrating almost every time so that you can see how it it is done. He will also show you a simple palette and how to achieve easier skin tones if you are painting the model. The class is on-going and there is a discount when you sign up for 3 months at a time.

Also Ongoing at The Kline Academy
Portrait Painting, Classical and Contemporary, Wed 2pm to 5pm, $60 per class (pre-paid monthly)
Currently we are recreating "Girl with a Pearl Earring" Our live model is perfect for the roll and students get to stand 2 to 3 feet from the model which makes skin tones much easier to achieve. Next month we will be working on an Ingres inspired portrait with a model from the Gallery Girls who looks like she just stepped out of a painting! Join us...we have 2 spaces left.
(310)927-2436

We also have Foundations in Classical Painting on Wed eve and Thursday morning, and Contemporary painting on Thursday evening.

The Portrait Society of America Hosts Artist Morgan Weistling

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:05:00 +0000

I was honored to be asked to volunteer for this event to help with the set up and
to also critique portfolios with Johanna Spinks, The California Ambassador for the PSA.
While we were setting up, I was imagining what Morgan would look like. I had briefly visited his web site and was not impressed with his subject matter Americana and and western era. A judgmental quality in my personality I am trying to overcome.
I was impressed with his drawing and painting skills and frankly I wanted to see what the hype was all about.
Especially since I heard that Morgan sells his pieces for thousands of dollars and can't paint them fast enough!

So in walks Morgan. Holy sh_t! Cute as a button! Late 30's or early 40's, regular kinda guy, baseball cap, jeans.
Okay I thought, let's see what this guy can do. His model was an older man, cowboy hat and bandana, good etched lines in his face, and sad eyes. Perfect for a demo.

The room was a buzz with 100 artists all wanting to sit as close as possible. Morgan began with a simple outline in ochre. He had prepared the canvas with a medium ground. He works on acrylic ground because he said he likes the tooth since linen with oil ground tends to be too slick. The audience couldn't help themselves blurting out comments and questions throughout the demo. Morgan didn't miss a beat. He was the most entertaining artist I have ever heard. He had us laughing and mesmerized for the entire 3 hours!

Every stroke of thick paint Morgan applies is specific and purposeful. No broad strokes and blending. He applies thick strokes of paint using a #6 or small brush, one stroke next to the other. He must have spent 3/4 of the time just on the eyes.Someone asked why he painted his chosen subjects- Morgan said "because tank tops and tennis shoes don't inspire me."

See the progression Below:

Impressionism: Painting the Light

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:48:00 +0000

During my painting trip to Florence I saw the most interesting exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi

Painting Light is not just another Impressionist exhibition – it examines some of the most famous artists and their techniques of the last century, looking for clues as to where the paintings were made, under what conditions and, in some cases, by whom. The exhibition brings together over sixty masterpieces by Matisse, Van Gogh, Signac, Sisley, Berthe Morisot and Renoir and others from the Wallraf-Richartz Museum Foundation Corboud, Cologne, and other museums.
The exhibition opens by introducing the visitor to the turbulent world of the mid-19th century. Academic salon painters held the upper hand, but a new movement was afoot, and new theories of color were doing the rounds. Drawing inspiration from the theories of Goethe and Helmholz, scientists and painters alike were asking how they could capture ‘impressions’ – the fleeting perception of life as it happened – and put it down fresh and spontaneous on canvas. Here the visitor can compare the canvases of Jean Jacques Henner and other salon painters with the radical new style of Monet’s Maison à Failaise, brouillard (1885) and Caillebotte’s Le Coteau de Colombes (1884).
The Impressionists were not only pioneers in style, they were first and foremost innovators in technique. They were interested in "the new science." How the eye perceives light and assembles it optically. This interactive exhibition invites the visitor to look at the paintings using modern technology – with high-power microscopes, under infra-red and ultra-violet light – in order to discover the secrets of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. It explores such as aspects as how the artists conveyed the quality of light at different times of the day and which conditions inspired them the most, what materials and work methods they used, where the painting was done (for example one painting even has sand in the paint confirming it was executed en plein air while others recreated outdoor scenes in the shelter of their Paris studios) as well as the history of the paintings.
It was an eye-opening exhibit for me, being the realist snob that I am.

For more info go to: http://www.impressionismofirenze.it/

Painting by Theo Van Rysselberghe

Kline Mom - #2 Work from Photo

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:28:00 +0000

July 15, 2008

I decided to work a bit more on the painting from a photo, before I drag Mom back in.

Sometimes you just need some "history" on the canvas. Its good to build up some paint. What I have done was to establish the lines by adding highlights to the skin. I know what you are thinking...if you add lines, meaning darker color. But, what most people miss is that lines in a face are similar to painting drapery folds. They are made up of highlights an half tones so in this case, my under painting acts as the darker value and all I did was to add highlights on top.

I am also working to establish the wrinkled skin (Mom's going to kill me) but it tells a story about the model, in this case it is necessary. And, since I am not being paid for this painting and I don't have to please anyone but me, I can make this an honest painting. I like that!

So in this next picture, you will see that I made the hand much bigger. It was bugging me and I had spent some time on it and the more I looked, it was too small---so--- destruction! Don't be afraid to destroy a part of your painting if it is not right no matter how much time you have spent on it. You will, I promise you, spend much more time regretting that you did not fix it.

This is a rough block in and her fingers are bent - so once it is finished, it will look accurate. It may also be slightly exaggerated since the hand is the closest to the viewer, I do want to force the perspective. My next step will be to work on the other hand and body, establish the chair, and then have Mom back for a live setting.

Until then.

Family Portraits and KLINE'S MOTHER

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Yesterday, a friend brought my Mother by my studio for a visit and I said I would take her home. I wasn't ready to stop painting, so I set Mom in a chair and decided to paint her. I did a painting of her years ago and I love the piece entitled "Enigma" see below

Cheryl Kline, Enigma, Oil on Canvas, 1995

Anyway, I have been wanting to document her aging process and show the wrinkles, in all its earned glory the changed posture, her millions of thoughts inside that has accumulated over 82 years. How do I paint that?

So, here is the first 30 minute sitting:
I will update weekly or when ever I can get Mom to sit.

Here is a photo I took of the pose.

Okay, here is the first block in. My first challenge was that I can't get Mom to sit on a high chair due to health concerns so I had to sit while painting so I could be at a better level with her. As it is, I am still looking down a bit and I prefer to be at eye level.

Oh well, it must be this way..so I grabbed a blank white canvas. It was all I had, normally I never paint on a white canvas. I had black on my palette, so I used it to draw an outline or cartoon like drawing. Also, she was wearing all black...so I thought this would be good to use to quickly get some paint on and block in her clothes.

The background was very ochre-y so I used black, ochre and white to get rid of the white background. Then I noticed that her skin is very pink (but not a warm pink) so I used alizarine and white with a dab of naples (my naples-Sennelier) to quickly block in her pink skin.

The next step was to add a bit of shadow to Mom's neck and side of her face so English red was the perfect choice. I like to use English red with Ultramarine Blue and white as a shadow color. This time though, I had some Egyptian Violet I was trying for another painting and I added that. I like the cool value it gave me. When you first start a portrait, its important to really notice what is unique about the person. What are their most distinguished features. Over the years, I have noticed that Mom has lost her upper lip and the lower one protrudes. Also, her eye lid droops a bit. I think that just getting those 2 things, helped to achieve a likeness right away. I would never be concerned with details but I am impatient like the rest of you and want instant gratification-- so if a few suggestions help me to see the likeness - I go for it. Its when we allow ourselves to be consumed with details and small brushes and too many color choices that you get yourself in trouble. And Frustrated. When I see students come in with a palette full of colors, it is just a matter of time before I hear them say "I'm having trouble mixing this color." My reply is usually "I would too with that palette"

Limit the number of colors you use and then use the exact same palette every time you paint. Think about it. In the printing process, there are only 4 colors. Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and black. Everything printed is made from a combination of those 4.

A typical Renaissance palette is White, Yellow Ochre (not too dark), French Vermillion, and Ivory Black. Many times I will stick to this palette and in my Portrait Class they will start theirs this way too. Hal Yaskulka's Figure Painting class also uses this palette.

So back to "Kline's Mother" I think this first sitting was successful and I will continue to post the progress. Mom is a very willing sitter which helps a lot!

The Right Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:13:00 +0000

Once upon a time I met an artist in one of my classes who was painting little landscape-ish paintings. She said she hated what she was doing... using the tiniest brushes to describe every detail from her source image. So, I asked her "who do you like?" She said "Turner." I said "give me your brush." And then I handed her a palette knife and said "from now on, you only use a palette knife."

I had no idea how one simple adjustment could make such a dramatic change in ones art. I am always telling students to "get a bigger brush" but this was different. Gay Summerrick is a Fine Artist who took the challenge and changed the way she paints and even adjusted her approach to painting. Because with palette knife paintings, its not the overall colors that are important -like the color of the sky or the water or the trees. Its what's underneath that counts!

It's the bit of red or that spec of golden color that appears in between and in places that you can't plan for it to be. It is as if light has filtered through and is pulling everything together. Its the vibration of the colors underneath their primary colors that make the painting pop and for you to say "oh yea, this is good... really good."

When you see Gay's paintings up close, you will see what I mean. Gay has won awards from the Malibu Art Association, and excepted into juried shows with The California Art Club. She also shows at Los Angeles County Museum of Art Sales and Rental Gallery.

Needless to say, I am very proud of her.
Below are some of her landscapes: click on images for detail

Kline Academy Instructor GARY BLACKWELL wins Special Award

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:34:00 +0000

Gary Blackwell, Title: Friends, Size 11 x 14 Surface: Wallis paper

Kline Academy Instructor GARY BLACKWELL

wins Special Award and Cash Prize
from The Pastel Society of the West Coast

Gary Blackwell, a Signature Member of the PSWC and was given a special award for his entry "Friends" pastel on paper during The PASTELS USA 22nd Annual International Open Exhibition at the Haggin Museum in Stockton CA. The show runs from May 18 to June 22 and is sponsored by the Pastel Society of the West Coast.

Winning competitions is not new to Blackwell - a few years ago he earned the title of "Distinguished Pastelist" after winning three awards in succession in this same competition.

I Can't Believe It's ACRYLIC!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:01:00 +0000

I Can't Believe It's an Acrylic!!!

Hal Yaskula is an instructor at The Kline Academy of Fine Art
who teaches our Figure Painting Classes.

Hal is an amazing artist. His work has been exhibited nationally and he has conducted many demos at the Getty Museum. Not only is he a great artist but he is a kind and wonderful soul. His teaching style is much more mellow compared to mine and he demonstrates almost every single class! He puts his brush where his mouth is!!!

When he brought this painting in the other day and said it was acrylic I had to eat all my snobbish, anti-acrylic words!

This is a work in progress and shows what you will be fortunate to learn when you are in Hal's class. He uses both acrylic and oil. Sometimes he will begin the painting in acrylic using a cool darker ground then layers the lighter skin tones on top which gives it form and adds to the layered look of a soulful, renaissance approach. In this painting, he went back in with black and added the line quality which has a nice play with the layers of tones.

I will post the finished piece when Hal says it is done.

Hal is a firm believer in strong drawing skills and adjusts his teaching to students at all levels

If you would like to know more about Hal's technique, currently, there are 2 openings in his Monday Head and Figure painting class from 11am to 2pm Oil or Acrylic...or both!

(310)-927-2436, Kline Academy

Cheryl Kline Receives "Certificate of Excellence" Award from The Portrait Society of America

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:37:00 +0000

Cheryl Kline Receives "Certificate of Excellence" Award

from The Portrait Society of America

Last weekend, The Portrait Society of America held their 10th annual Art of the Portrait conference in Philadelphia, PA.

Over 800 artists from around the world attended. The days were filled with lectures and demonstrations from the most renown portrait artists living today.

Highlights included:

Thursday 4x4 demonstration featuring Jamie McMahan, Wende Caporale, Dawn Whitelaw and Timothy Thies.

Friday morning John Howard Sanden demonstrated. Then, Friday afternoon classes featuring Michael Shane Neal, Rose Frantzen, Calvin Goodman, Wende Caporale, Ying-he Liu, Judith Carducci, Dawn Whitelaw, Chris Saper, Ross Merrill, Robert Liberace, Edward Jonas, Anthony Ryder, Timothy J. Clark and Daniel Greene.

On Saturday, Everett Raymond Kinstler gave an incredible lecture. He talked about the fact that most great portrait artists all painted other things besides portraits. And how important it is to explore nature from life. Most of the great portrait artists (Sargent, Zorn, Boldini, and others) used only 5 to 8 colors to create their masterpieces!

"When you paint hair, make believe you have a comb in your hand."

He gave many other gems while creating this study:

"There are no short cuts"

"All art is feeling"

and

"Be careful of cleverness"

Burton Silverman followed with this demonstration of a model which he painted in about 2 hours!

Burt began over an old paint as his underpainting, "it causes you to be zoned in and more focused"

He started drawing (with paint) with a reddish brown and alizarine very dry paint as an outline to set up the composition on the canvas. Like magic, the figure began to appear. He made a point to keep the shadows transparent (thinned with oil) and many times wiped out the area after applying the paint to actually stain the area with a hue. Then he started the half tones in the face and added the warm color on the nose then the highlight. He worked very fast and slowly built up the impasto highlights. The blond hair was achieved with a reddish undertone and then put the highlights on top.

On Saturday afternoon, Aaron Shikler spoke for an hour about his life as an artist. What a character, all of these speakers had stories to tell about presidents and royalty they painted.

David Leffel closed the day speaking about "finishing' a portrait".

"Finishing is the stretch between the gaps...edges..." This was such a fascinating demo.

First of all Lefell had no model, this was all from memory.

He started with the dark area around the eye, He called this his yin and yang of the eye- "have lights mass and darks mass." His palette consisted of Burnt umber, ultra marine blue, pthalo blue, venetian red, cad orange, yellow ochre and white.

By painting the dark area first he established all the shadows, then, just like sculpting he began to add the mid values that create the lid and around the eyes. The skin under the eye is a warmer red. He connected the white of eye to the lower lid then went in later to add color to the white of the eye on the inside. It was almost orange in tone and I was waiting for him to "fix" it but it all came together. He talked about how to make the eyes transparent and how light will hit one side of the iris.

Regarding solving problems: Instead of softening a shadow transition he said instead, "to take their attention away or divert it to a light next to it."

"Highlights starts crisp and has a tail which (tapers off) and relates it to the surface."

"The dark part of the eyebrow starts under the brow ridge and has a grayer, cooler color by the bone because it is turning in."

"You use more color on the tip of the nose and less color to make it recede." Also by graying out the receding areas and areas that turn the face , you can get a better illusion of the modeling. The under planes are usually cooler.

"Part of closing up the gaps is making other areas stronger"

And more gems..... "Every form begins and ends. "When light hits, it starts..." "Hard edges follow soft edges" "A hard edge is closed, a soft edge is open"

"Front planes are warm, side planes are cool"

It was a fantastic demo, later another artist, Letticia and I were in the lobby bar and Burton Silverman and his friends joined our table and I had the excellent opportunity to further discuss his process and his ideas on finishing a painting.

Saturday night was our Gala Celebration and black tie banquet. When they called my name, I was so proud and humbled to be among the 30 recipients of an Award and be among some of the finest artists in the country. They show your winning image on 3 huge screens in the banquet hall. The 1st prize went to a sculptor at our table, Amy Kann.

To see all the prize winners and the top portraits go to http://www.portraitsociety.org/

This is a bad picture, but I was still walking on clouds and couldn't hold still. Thats Daniel Graves on the left and Charles Cecil on the right.

Later that evening we again went to the lobby bar and Daniel Graves, founder/director of the Florence Academy of Art (the best place I ever studied) was there and also Charles Cecil Founder/director of Charles Cecil Studios. Both of them were honored for An Award of Excellence in Education for their incredible contribution to the studies of figurative art in a classical atelier.

Our last day featured two internationally known artists, Daniel Greene and Nelson Shanks.

Nelson Shanks was another incredible speaker and talked about his work with Princess Diana and their friendship and his many other commissions of well known people. I was so exhausted I didn't take notes. Later we (800 of us) were invited to visit Nelson Shanks atelier/ Studio Incamminati. Where he teaches classical art in a 10,000 square foot space. They had a generous buffet prepared, a portrait demo by some of his teachers and the unveiling of Nelson Shank's latest work.

After that I ran to see the Cecilia Beaux, American Figure Painter exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts- incredible! I'm sure if she had been a man, her fame would have been as Sargents.

I highly recommend this conference for next year which will be held in Washington DC.

Anatomy Of A Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Dr. Wiengarten is the husband of one of my students. Every time I saw him (usually at one of my shows) I knew I had to paint him. He had such a rascal look about him, his thinning white hair, his gentle smile and those eyes! You could see a lifetime in those old soul, blue eyes. One evening I went over to their house and set up a quick photo session. "Where's your favorite chair" "Is that your book?" and with a few adjustments, I knew I had a good shot.

A Note about photo set-up:

When I photographed him, I didn't like the impression of him being looked down upon so I adjusted my view to just below his eye level. Traditionally, commissioned portraits of royalty required the artist's eye level to be lower then their subject, today when an artist sets up a portrait, it depends on what you want to say about your subject and what would be the most flattering position.

Anatomy of a portrait:

Step one: after the drawing, the canvas was covered in red oxide and then the images strongest lights and halftones where "subtracted" or wiped out with a cotton rag.

Step two: The gray stage- the painting was reworked with a value study to describe the various values.

Step three: I got bored with my usual gray study and went right to color. I painted all night I was on such a high, blasting the salsa music to feed my frenzy. I found that I could actually use the "full spectrum painting" idea in this painting quite well. For instance - his shirt would be boring if I stuck to the usual blue tones throughout. In full spectrum painting, as long as you match the same value and temperature,
you can put almost any color your want next to each other and it will make the painting more exciting and alive.

The shirt has pinks, yellows, greens and violet tones, even though the overall coloring is blue those additional colors make it pop.

I used the same idea on his head and for the final touches, the eyes, I had Dr. Wiengarten come in for a live sitting. I needed that glint in his eyes and that curl in his lip. You cannot substitute painting from life and even though most of this painting was done from a photograph, it would not have been successful without his live presence.

The final painting.

Most models, you have to urge them into some sort of thought or facial expression to get the blank look off of their face or that frozen fearful thought of "oh my God I'm in the spotlight now what do I do" ...but some models are a natural and Dr. Bill was a natural.

~Cheryl Kline

Kline Academy on Flickr.com

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:35:00 +0000

The Kline Academy now has a flickr account where you can view the latest works form the studio. Please join our Flickr contact list and stay up to date!

Kline Academy Flickr Account

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Welcome to the Kline Academy Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl Kline) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:22:00 +0000

The Kline Academy of Fine Art

Is a different place to learn to paint...draw, create, etc.

About 6 years ago, I started a couple of classes teaching painting techniques to a group of people who had all claimed to have years of painting experience but never really learned "how to paint." Since I am a full time artist, this helped to supplement my income. What I taught them, were a combination of old master skills I learned from my Maestro, Jan Saether and from the brilliant instructors at the Florence Academy of Art.

Before I knew it, I had a wait list. Last year, I bought a building to house both my studio and an atelier
for the new "Kline Academy of Fine Art." The best way to describe the importance of classical art training is with an analogy to music: If you want to be a great jazz player - you need to study scales and classical foundations. The same is true in my opinion, to become a great painter. With the impressionists and later contemporary artists, classical painting techniques were practically abolished.

Trends changed and rather then incorporating centuries of painting knowledge, art schools basically “threw the baby out with the bath water.” During the Renaissance, painting techniques were passed down from master to student. Only in the past 5 or 10 years have there been a new group of private ateliers in America as well as some universities that are trying to teach figurative painting techniques that demonstrate the magic that can be produced with a glob of color and a simple brush.

I can't tell you how many students come to me who have had years of art school, have never been "taught" how to paint! But their frustration ends at our front door!

~Cheryl Kline

Kline Academy