Service Description

These Masterclasses are different from my Elemental class series (Rocks, Clouds… Ether etc). These are slo-o-o-o-o-o-w classes. We break it down to the minutest level and inspect every last detail - miniature painting is, after all, all about the detail. We’ll focus on a single face in each course, so that by the end of the course you’ll have completed one face. Seems like not much? It isn’t. It isn’t supposed to be - unlike the Elemental series where you are welcome to do a small corner, an in-depth study or a whole painting of your choosing, in these classes we will be honing our skills and diving very deeply into the minutiae of the miniature faces, ie. the quirks of a nose, the many lines that make up hair, beards, brows… a single subtle shift of a line can make a young nose old, or a quizzical eye angry. These nuances are subtle and they take time. It’s almost the opposite of the Elemental series in that we are zooming in, via Zoom! - intensely on the lines and dots that make up a face. Ideally, you will be painting with me - I will demonstrate, and you will follow along in the gaps between (colours need to dry, areas need to be burnished, intense rendering demands eye breaks etc) so I can offer help and advice along your journey. In many ways the polar opposite to my other classes, I’ll provide the reference image and we will paint the same face for the whole duration in these classes. Each 2 hour session will build on the next, and we’ll just concentrate on completing this single face for the entire course. By taking it so extremely slowly, I do guarantee that wherever you are, whatever stage you are at with painting, you.will.get.better - as you must, by doing this deep practice with me. If man (humankind) is the measure of all things, then the face is the measure of a miniature. Join me in this small class and I’ll guide you in the slow meditative concentrated energy it takes to paint the epitome of miniature painting - the human face. DECEMBER Old age - an ascetic. Fittingly for the final month of the year and the final instalment of the 1st year of the Faces classes, we look at old age. Look at this wise and wizened holy man - because he's so ancient, who knows his real age? Maybe he has bent time through prayer and fasting. This class starts on Nov 30 and ends on the Winter Solstice, Dec 21, a good time to reflect on the passing of time before the holidays. More info on Forum - watch out for princesses to come! Forum link in main menu