I have been asked by the Royal Art Society of New South Wales to run their Wednesday afternoon Portrait Painting course this term at their location in Lavender Bay. I don't have any art school training and so I considered this for a while before deciding to go ahead with it.

The confidence that I can do this comes mainly from the three Portrait workshops I have done with Susan Cesarini, David Kassan and Evert Pleog, the numerous portrait demonstrations in front of live audiences (about 17), and the  portrait  and life drawing groups I attend regularly, the involvment with online forums such as Wet Canvas all building on the desire from a young age to follow this passion. I may not have reached yet the standard I want to achieve, but I do feel I have something I can contribute to others development in most areas regarding portraiture.

 My idea of this course will be more 'What they don't tell you in Art School!' than a formal academic approach, and the goal of the course will be to enjoy the experience of developing and improving individual skills and confidence in the art of Portraiture.

The principle medium used will be oil paints but the course will not be limited to one particular method or style and the intent will be to build competence, confidence and originality in being able to portray a likeness in a variety of mediums and methods.

The focus will be on developing confidence to paint 'alla prima' with short poses but will also include developing a more finished result over longer poses.

Some of the topics to be covered will be

Materials, Paints, Grounds, brushes etc.

Structure of the head, how to depict with painting and drawing.

Alla Prima Painting in oil paint.

Building up a painting over more than one sitting.

Using other Mediums, Pencil, Pastel, Watercolour.