Alain Picard '97 
CLA Workshop 3/17/03

ART after WESTERN
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Betty Ann Medieros '89 is the publicity chair for the Candlewood League of Artists.  She said, "There are many artists in this area and we are all starving for something like this."
 Alain Picard '97 chose a member of the audience, Carol Anderson,  as his model.
Alain began his demonstration by explaining the type of paper he is using.   For the evening, he used La Carte by Bristol, with a vegetable grind surface and it is velvety to the touch.  He explained that this paper cannot be used with water because the finish will come off and the paper becomes slick..
 The color of the paper is light gray.  To begin the portrait Alain will use a vine charcoal.  He set Carol in a 3/4 pose adding that without special lighting, the shading will be subtle.  He sometimes uses a lamp for dramatic lighting to sculpt out the features.
Plonia Nixon, a WC professor, watches as her former student begins his presentation.
Plonia and Charlotte Honda, a current WC student, discuss the presentation.
 Alain explains that he starts to work loose, but he looks at his model as if he were an  architect.  He uses the hairline and the eye line to form  the correct facial shape.

He looks closely to find the basic lay of the position of the eyes and the angle of the plane the eyes are sitting on.
He then steps back to check his work.
Carol sits still but often smiles at the audience reactions and discussion.
Beginning the background can further define the shape of the face.  He adds a soft Schmincke pastel to block in some of the hair.
 Alain answers questions from the audience about the pastels he is using.  He builds up the cheeks with highlights working "out-of-focus to in-focus."
Everything is considered a series of shapes and he does not think of a face as nose or eyes.
 An artist builds on the finished portion of his work using plumb lines and horizontal lines.  The value shift of the face is subtle due to the overhead lighting so there is no dramatic shadow.
He explains that an artists needs to find a darker value for the nose to come forward.  Blue was added to carve out the background behind the shoulder, using a bristle brush from Home Depot to fuse things. 

Alain likes to work with live models but works with photos as well.  After working with a model, an artists can breathe life into the photo.  He looks for highlights to build form, including Carol's necklace to remove the floating head syndrome. 
Lips are defined by the shadow underneath it.  He uses baby wipes to keep his hand clean.
 

When he has someone sitting for a portrait, he will shoot a roll of film and discuss various poses.  He enlarges the photo and works in blocks of time. Some portraits are done in 3 hours and some take days.

 He uses pencils when a harder color is needed.  It is often tricky to find the subtle tomes.  Corrections are made with color and shadows. 

He goes back into the picture with the vine charcoal to sharpen certain areas.

Carol said it was fun to sit in front of 50 of her closest friends.
The demonstration is over and Alain shows Carol his
finished work.


To view the portrait as it was at 9:00 pm

Rembrandt pastels come in medium and soft.  Alain usually works for 1 1/2 hours before taking a break.  Pastels should be framed under glass, preferably a UV glass and should be temperature controlled.  He mounts his glass with a 1/4" space.  The excess dust will fall into the catch area and the pastels are not being smudged by the pressure.  He does not use a fixative. 

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