Painting with Casey Baugh

Last week was the third week that I got to watch and learn from modern master Casey Baugh.  And I am still learning from this man!  He did some awesome demos, showing off some new techniques, and even using different brushes than the last time we worked together.  I posted some of the highlights on my Studio 81 Facebook Page.

So here are a few of the paintings I did in between adjusting spotlights, fetching fabric, filling jars of thinner, changing radio stations, stocking water bottles, and helping out in any way I could :)

I'm most pleased with the top two - I actually really enjoyed the back view on top.  She held the pose beautifully, including the draped hands, and the light on her shoulder was very subtle. The palette in the second one was minimal, and therefor the focus was easily kept on her face.  The bottom two are a little too saturated, and forced.  I don't think I was relaxed!!! But good practice none the less :)  I'm already looking forward to Casey's next class in June 2014.

Casey Baugh Workshop Atlanta 2014

I am so thrilled to be hosting Casey Baugh next year at Studio 81 in Woodstock, GA.  Casey has just added the class to his website and I encourage you to register ASAP if you are interested - spaces go quickly!

You can see a re-cap of his April workshop on my blog.

My daughter snuck into this photo...Melvin Todd, me, and Casey from the last day of class.

Wrapping Up and Catching Up - Casey Baugh's Workshop and A New Painting

The end of April to the middle of May has disappeared in a whirlwind of activity.  Spring is normally my favorite time of year - the warmer afternoons that finish with cool evenings by the bonfire, the budding of the trees, the inkling to clean out all of the closets and drawers.  However, this spring has had a totally different feel to it.  The weather in GA was stuck in some kind of twilight zone, hanging on to cold temperatures and rain like winter was never going to end.

The crappy weather has impeded my progress on my summer tan, but has not hindered my process in the studio.  Of course, how could I not be inspired to be productive after spending a week with Casey Baugh teaching in my space?!?

Once I got over the shock of Casey actually walking through the door and standing in the center of my studio...I settled back in the comfy couch in my studio and just watched as he held court, talking about his painting philosophy and connecting with his students for the week.

The first day demo did not disappoint.  Casey spends a great deal of time on the set-up, settling into his surroundings, adjusting (and creating!) the perfect type of lighting scheme and posing the model until he can visualize the complete painting.  While this process may seem drawn out to those who just want to watch the magic when his brush hits the canvas, it's this mental process that Casey credits with much of his success.

The rest of the week was equally inspiring and insightful.  Casey demonstrated with two paintings based on photographs.  Watching him select the perfect shot, edit it, and again - visualize the complete painting before picking up his brush - was incredibly helpful.

Of course, the signature is a part of the painting - Casey has refined his signature and always places it with great care.  Often, this is before the painting is "finished" - considered part of the process, not the final touch.

Casey was so generous with his time, and hosted a more social gathering one evening where he completed another fabulous demo in more of a party setting...the vibe was much more relaxed as we talked, ate, drank, and heckled Casey as he created this masterpiece.

We also took some time to admire the sculpture that Matt Lewis has been working on in the studio.

On the final day, Casey arranged our lovely model against one of the fabulous 100 year old walls in the studio.  The lighting, the red dress, even her hair color were perfect together.  

Tucked out of everyone's way, I worked on a painting from a photo of the same pose.

Hearing Casey talk each artist though their painting, and watching him make adjustments, was incredibly helpful and I tried to keep two things in mind as I worked - push the full value range that I want to establish, and value is more important than color.

This is almost finished...I have since resolved the hand.  I will post another picture soon!

Great news:  Casey Baugh will be back at Studio 81 in August of 2013 AND in June of 2014.  If you are interested in getting on the waiting list for 2013 or signing up for 2014, please contact me.

Evert Ploeg, Kurt Sutton, Casey Baugh all coming up at Studio 81

This past week, the weather here in Georgia finally allowed us to throw open the windows and enjoy the spring temperatures.  Of course, this was followed my intensive amounts of dusting and vacuuming brought on my the 1/4" of yellow pollen that covered every floor, piece of furniture, the dog (I did NOT vacuum the dog...although I was tempted) and window blind.  The next day, it went right from spring to summer, and instead of opening the windows we turned on the A/C.  Just as we were getting out the shorts from last year and sandals switched places with boots, we had to switch back over to the heater as temps dipped back into the forties.

I think this crazy weather pattern is throwing me off.  Spring is usually my favorite time of year.  I clean out my flower beds, organize the kid's closets, try out some new recipes...it's an energetic and hopeful time of year.

In spite of my issues with the weather, this spring does bring forth some great potential.   I have been working hard on some new paintings, and there are several exciting events coming up for me and the studio.

First off, I'm so excited to be attending my first Portrait Society of America conference.  I visited the conference briefly two years ago when it was in Atlanta, but this year I get to stay the entire time.   I'm looking forward to a lunch with Rose Franzen, Demos by David Kassan and Michelle Dunaway, and numerous other lectures and workshop opportunities 

What is most thrilling is the events that will take place right after the conference.   Casey Baugh will be teaching for two full weeks at my studio in Woodstock.  I got so much out of the class that I attended in Chattanooga, and my work has grown in the months since.

Casey's Demo from Day One of Class

The day after the portrait conference, the incredibly talented Mr. Evert Ploeg will be painting a portrait live on stage at the Elm Street Theater in Woodstock, just one block away from my studio.

Evert will be painting the acclaimed actor Kurt Sutton, who travels the country performing his one man show, "An Evening with Mark Twain".

This one-night-only event is exactly the kind of Cultural Arts event that will benefit the growing Elm Street Cultural Arts Village.  I am hoping for a packed house - and looking forward to inviting more artists to teach and share their talents here in Woodstock.

General admission for this event is $40.00.  It's a huge bargain to get these two amazingly talented men together on one stage!  

Monday, April 29th

7:00 - 10:00 PM

Elm Street Theater

Main Street, Woodstock

Book your tickets online!

New Painting Striped Tights and Sunlight

So here's the problem with taking a painting workshop like the one I did with Casey Baugh.  The second you walk back into your studio EVERYTHING you have painted before looks horrible.  You immediately see all the mistakes in every brush stroke, color choice, and composition.  You want to build a huge bonfire and burn every canvas.

OK that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but truly, it was overwhelming at first.  I am very proud of all of my work, but I had to realize that I hadn't learned anything new in about 10 years.  I was still painting the same way I painted in graduate school.  Fresh ideas, fresh perspective, can be a bit overwhelming.

Luckily, after about an hour of wandering around, frustrated with the work I had already started and not confident enough to start anything new, I happened to turn the corner and stumble upon this.

Matt the sculptor has slowly been de-constructing his beautiful sculpture (deep breath - he has already made the mold!) and using the clay to make new figure studies, which, apparently, he uses to entertain himself by randomly perching them on the woman's breasts, head and armpit.

OK so mission accomplished. I laughed.  Got over myself.  And got back to work.

I used a reference photo from a session with a model almost 2 years ago.

Start- with Casey in my head, blocked in rather than draw the figure.  Focus on value, not color.  NO detail.

I admit it was hard to just hint at the features of the face, consider them as shapes and values, not eyelashes and lips.

The finished painting.  

Detail of the face.

12" x 12", oil on prepped wood panel.

What I am so excited about is SEEing the whole process in a new way.  Granted, Casey's way of painting is still vastly different than what I am doing (who wants to be someone else anyway?!?) Blending his technique with what I already knew, which - after a few days of depression - was not all wrong.  That was what brought out this painting.  And I am so excited about what's coming next.

Casey Baugh Workshop Wrap Up

OK obviously I am going to have to wrap this up or there will be nothing new on my blog for another month!  The last two days of the workshop were a lot of fun.  Day four was designated for painting the model outdoors.  We took a short walk around as a class, scouting for a location.   Close to the Atelier there were a lot of interesting backdrops, including some abandoned buildings covered in old brickwork and graffiti.

Once we settled on a couple spots (some artists opted for landscapes/cityscapes without the model) we had to move our supplies from the school to the location.

This is Hawiian Landscape Artist Curtis Cost carrying his easel - with a smile :) 

Several of us chose to work with this model on this interesting old platform.   (ok - here is one of those frustrating situations.  I was helping several artists go back and forth with easels, and ended up not only losing my original spot to another artist, but the model was set up before I got back.  It was, in my opinion, a very un-inspired pose in a very inspired setting.  But you have to shake these things off in a class.  You are only one voice in a group, and even - like me - when you are a loud voice, things don't always present the ideal situation.)  So I painted as much as I could, got some great feedback from Casey, then painted over my painting when I got home.

This is Shelli, who writes a blog called the Traveling Artist.  As the sun moved during the day, it was very entertaining to watch Shelli cover her head with various makeshift wraps and scarves made out of paper towels to block out the sun.

Right next to the platform where we were painting outside was an abandoned building that looked straight out of the book "The Road".  In spite of the soiled mattresses, broken glass, and the smell of...well, let's not think about what the smell could be...there was a cool shaft of light coming from the open roof, perfect for Thomas Voorhies to set up his easel.  Tom is one half of the pen name Lex Thomas.  They just wrote their first novel, Quarantine.  I'm guessing some of this environment might make it into Tom's next book.  I actually took a bunch of photos of our wonderful model up against that cool brick wall in the background.  I can't wait to paint a few of them.

As the day progressed, the sun moved, washing out the model, and warming us a tad too much.  Many artists headed back to the studio for some shade, and I actually skipped out a bit early so that I could return to the atelier in the evening for some practice at their live model session.

The final day of class was a lot of fun as well.  Casey brought in the painting of his daughter playing piano, which won an award at the 2012 Portrait Conference.  It was amazing to see it in person, to hear Casey talk about the process, everything from the source photo to the painting technique to selecting the custom frame colors.  

Casey then selected one of the artists from class to pose for him (aaaggghhhh!!!! Could you imagine?!?!?) He shot about 50-60 photos of her laughing and smiling, then showed us his process for editing, eliminating, selecting, and even enhancing a source photo to paint from.  This was incredibly helpful for me, since I am constantly shooting inspiration photos.

Casey sets up his easel and monitor very close together, aiming to work from a source as close to the size of the painting as possible.  (Not sure if this is considered the same as the sight-size painting method.)

At the end of the demo, Casey auctioned off both demos - the one from the first day and this painting.  Of course I am NOW kicking myself for not bidding!!! So be prepared: if you take his workshop, set aside some money to bid - if you don't you will regret it later :)

So...was the workshop worth it?  Absolutely.  Casey is a very effective teacher.  He is able to work with anyone's style and palette, finding good aspects of each painting and encouraging each student to look at different ways of seeing and then applying paint.  Watching Casey paint was, IMO, the best part.  Seeing him make a bold brushstroke to add in a deep shadow, or a soft stroke across the mass of hair just to add a hint of color, each stroke taught me something about how to use the paint and the brush.

My tips for taking a workshop:

1.  Make sure you are at the appropriate skill level for the class.  

Several of the students in this group seemed to be novice portrait painters.  This was listed as a Master Class  - I think the artists who got the most of out the class had portrait experience.

2.  Be open to the teacher's techniques.

You are not there to do the same thing you always do.  What's the point? TRY the teacher's techniques - even if it is TOTALLY different from the way you normally work.  This is not the time to make a masterpiece in your style - you rarely get the perfect spot with the perfect lighting and the perfect pose for a masterful painting.  This is PRACTICE.  Learn! Besides - even if you do make THE perfect painting, paintings created in a workshop are not eligible for most contests or juried exhibitions. Save your best work for after the class :)

3.  Stop painting and start watching.

I probably spent about 75% of my time at my easel, but also found myself consistently stepping away so that I could watch Casey work with another artist.  Hearing his direction, watching him change a painting, seeing how he mixed paint, was all so helpful.  Granted, I am a pretty fast painter, so I felt ok stepping away from my easel and sacrificing a little painting time.  But it really was important to learn as much as possible from Casey every time he painted. 

I'm sure there are more bits of advice I could share, but the bottom line for me would be:  stay positive, stay focused on LEARNING, be flexible!  Take great notes, ask a lot of questions, and have a good time :)

Casey Baugh Workshop Day Three

Before I get started on day three, I want to mention that the Townsend Atelier was in a great area on the south side of Chattanooga, within walking distance of several other artist's studio.  Our host, Stan (although, for some reason, I called him "Larry" all week!) was kind enough to take us on a short walking tour where we visited a couple of the studios.  Our first stop was at the studio of Mia Bergeron.  Such a cool looking space!

We met Mia (it would have been rude to poke around and sleep in her bed if she wasn't there!), got to see some work in progress, and just enjoyed talking with her about her work.  One of her lovely portraits...

Best of luck to Mia who is participating in a group show titled "Nuance"

We also visited the studio of Brett Weaver (I have no photos!) but please check out his wonderful work.

OK...the painting!  I finished up my painting from day one, then moved to a new spot, looking at her full profile.  This was not an idea spot - very little shadow, kind of a dull view...but I was there to practice! SO onward!

Started with blocking in large shapes, again focusing more on value than color, not getting a perfect drawing right away - just massing it in.

 Casey came by and kept pushing my values under her jaw line.  He has the unique ability to make a shadow look like a shadow, where as I make it look like mud!  

The final painting.  I do like her hair, and the treatment of her blouse - but I would have liked less of a straight ahead stare.  Still...I loved using the technique again, and I was getting used to my new brushes, so that really helped!

Day four...we head outside :)

Have you registered for Casey Baugh's Atlanta workshop that will be held at my studio?!? Get going! Only a few spots left!

Casey Baugh Painting Workshop : Our Turn to Paint

The second day of the workshop has arrived, and we are all eager to try our hand at implementing Casey's great advice.  We set up the model, then drew numbers to see who set up their easel where (I was number 12 of 12...all my luck ran out when I got the last seat in the class :)  but that was OK - I needed to be close to the fresh air by the open door.

Because the group was viewing the model from all sides, I jumped up on the model platform - at Casey's OK - and pinned her hair up in a messy bun.  Those of you who know me are not shocked by that statement at all.  I also plugged in my iphone when there was no music, and yelled "Get back to work!" if the model was back in place.  I'll work on my control issues...I promise!!! (I really won't...but I thought I'd say it anyway!)

First stages of blocking in.  Normally I would sketch out the face in a monochromatic sepia tone and then start applying a local color to the skin.  Not this time!  Shapes and values were the focus.  Color was close, but not exact.  Detail was not the goal at this stage.

A shot of the class - great starts!

Casey has made a full round to check on everyone's work at this point.  I found him to be a wonderful instructor.  He focuses on problem solving - not once did I hear him say someone had the wrong paint, the wrong media, etc.  He worked with your palette and your materials.  He DID give a lot of advice on brushes - good brushes are very important.  

The first time he stopped at my easel he said "great - keep going!" so I did :) The SECOND time he came around, he busted me - brushed out a bunch of area where I was getting too tight, added bold strokes to the background where I was clinging to the first drippy layers, pushed some shadows on the face deeper.  It was so helpful to watch him work!  Advice to you: do not be precious about any of your work during a workshop.  These paintings are for LEARNING - process! Learn! - then implement your new skills when you get back to your studio.

So Casey was having way too much fun painting over my face so I finally said "Hold on! My turn!" took back my brush and sent him on his way :)  I don't have a good shot of my final painting - I'll add it later today .

Casey Baugh Figure Painting Workshop Recap

Last week I was lucky enough to spend a week painting at the Townsend Atelier with the amazing Casey Baugh.  And I mean LUCKY - I think I got the last spot before he closed admission!  The class was only 12 students, in an open and well-lit space.  

I was first introduced to Casey's work about 5 years ago by a fellow artist who showed me a magazine article on Casey's work.  Beautiful figures in impeccable wardrobes staged in the perfect setting.   Each element of his composition were obviously well thought out and painted with certainty.  Paintings that are so good because Casey was able to make the difficult look effortless.

And of course, since that first sighting in the magazine, I have watched out for new work and kept on eye on his classes and demonstrations.  All made easier, of course, because now you can watch him on Facebook and Instagram, too.  So after making sure Grandma could fly out and hold the fort while I go paint for 5 days, I went ahead and bought my seat in his class!

The first day was dedicated to a live portrait demo.  As soon as Casey started setting up the questions came flying one after another..."what kind of palette is that?" (Edge Pro Gear... SWEET!!!) "how do you line up your colors?" "what kind of paper towels are those?"...and so on.  12 eager students just waiting and hoping for the magic formula...the missing ingredient in our own bag of tricks that will make us paint JUST LIKE CASEY!!! (I really do think it's the blue towels...)

Anyway...why am I still writing?!?! You want to see pictures!

After taking time with the set-up - adjusting light, moving around the model, fixing hair, and thinking through the painting, only then did Casey pick up the brush.  That was important - I tend to think "aaagghhh!!! I'm paying the model! I have to start painting the minute she walks in the door!!!" but then 20 minutes into the painting I see that my set up and lighting aren't that great...take TIME to set up!

I think the panel size was about 12 - 14 inches square. What is helpful with Casey's easel is there are magnets on the case and on the panel - you just stick the panel up and go!

No rush to show that he knows how to paint perfect features: a few quick strokes to plot out the scale.  

Blocking in.  Quick peripheral glances at the model only to determine value.  No detail. No drawing.  Quick mixes of color close but not exact hues.  Value above all else.

Watching Casey use the brush and the paint was fascinating.  The right amount of pressure on the bristles, the right flick of the wrist, made all the difference.

I was amazed at how "late" in the game Casey would boldly put a stroke of dark color on the face or the hair.  No preciousness was felt for any stroke or area - if a change needed to be made, he made it.  Solve the problem.  Whenever it arises. 

Quick shot of his palette.  Light and dark versions of each color - blue, red, yellow, and brown.

Before he declared the piece finished, he carefully added his signature - also an element of the design and composition.  Only when the signature is in could he say whether or not the entire painting felt "done".

This summary really only scratches at the surface of what I learned just by watching Casey paint.  He was incredibly gracious and generous to answer every question, with no pretension:  he didn't know all the answers.  He just knew how he liked to try and solve every problem.   He shared his list of 7 things to think about in every painting, he talked about his mediums (which he used sparingly...if at all) and the business of being in the Art world.  

After the demo we all turned in for the day...for tomorrow...we would paint :)

***Casey Baugh will be holding a 5 Day Figure Painting workshop at my studio in Woodstock, Ga, 30 minutes north of Atlanta, in April 2013.  Visit his website to register***