ZORN PALETTE PORTRAITS

(10 customer reviews)

$149.00

  • Self-Study
  • Instructor – Sarah Sedwick
  • 7 Lessons/6+ Hours of Instruction
  • Lifetime Access/Downloadable Content
  • Private Facebook Group
  • #sarahsedwick
  • Course Price – $149
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Description

ARE YOU FRUSTRATED WITH COLOR MIXING?  WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN TO LIMIT YOUR PAINT PALETTE AND SIMPLIFY YOUR PAINTING PROCESS?

 

Join Sarah Sedwick in ZORN PALETTE PORTRAITS!  In this portrait course, we will focus on the basics of portrait painting, working from a live model with a simple palette of three colors plus white. These four colors – Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, and Ivory Black – famously used by Swedish painter Anders Zorn – create especially beautiful skin tones. The alla prima painting style, in which a work is begun and finished in one session, while the paint is still wet, is lots of fun and perfect for exploring the portrait in oils.

This course will include a combination of demonstrations, short exercises, and a longer-duration painting which will familiarize you with Sarah’s approach to the portrait. Instruction will be in oils, but acrylics are also welcome. This class is suitable for beginning to advanced artists.

 

ZornPaletteSetUpSarahSedwick

COURSE OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course students will have an understanding of the following concepts:

  • Learn the history of the Zorn palette
  • Create a beautiful color chart or color wheel as a studio reference
  • Build a palette that can be used to paint a portrait of anyone
  • Fine tune your ability to perceive color relationships, creating an even amount of shift between your mixtures as you move around the color wheel
  • Apply color, working from the general to the specific - big value shapes first, just like the Shifting Light exercise
  • Practice taking virtual “model breaks,” checking in with your palette and taking a few steps back from your painting - or looking at it in a mirror - as you go along
  • Let go of intimidation around specific facial features
  • Paint an eye, a nose, and a mouth
  • Gain a better understanding of each feature’s geometric structure
  • Get more practice with our beautiful Zorn palette of flesh tones

COURSE IS OPEN - SELF-STUDY

Lifetime Access - Download All Content

Cost - $149

DESCRIPTION OF LESSONS

LESSON 1 - MATERIALS

We will begin by going over our materials. In this class, we will be working with the Zorn palette, a three-primary set of paint colors. Three colors plus white, that’s it! The Zorn palette is Cadmium red, yellow ochre, and Ivory black. The Swedish painter Anders Zorn used this set of colors in many of his fine portraits, over 100 years ago.

During this lesson, I will also share with you about the brushes I use, the mediums I prefer, and which substrates I use and why.

Sedwickzppsupplies

LESSON 2 - MIX YOUR PALETTE

In Lesson 2, we will begin building your palette! I love working with the Zorn palette - I call it “training wheels for flesh tones” because two of the three “primaries” come pre-neutralized (the yellow and the blue). If Ivory black as a blue seems strange to you, don’t worry! As your eyes get used to this set of colors, it will begin to feel more and more like a blue.  We will be using this palette for the following lessons.

ZornPaintPalette2

LESSONS 3 AND 4 - FIVE VALUES AND SHIFTING LIGHT

In this lesson, we will create a set of five flesh tones of different values - two lights, one midtone, and two dark values for shadows. You’ll use these mixtures in the first exercise, Shifting Light.

Shifting Light is an exercise in which we’ll paint the model in the same pose, four times, in four different lighting situations. Working from a printed contour drawing, you’ll fill in the big value shapes on the face.

I’ll be spending 20 minutes on each study, but you can choose how long to paint. I suggest setting a timer, just to keep things moving!  Remember, these are just quick studies!

In the last study, you’ll add temperature shifts - pinks and greens - to the five values on your palette to enliven your portraits.

ZPshiftinglight1
ZPshiftinglight3
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LESSON 5 - ALLA PRIMA PORTRAIT

SedwickZornPaletteAllaPrimaPortrait

Now that we’ve gotten familiar with the Zorn palette and warmed up our painting arms and eyes by doing the Shifting Light exercise, it’s time to delve into a long pose with our model.

Alla Prima” is an Italian phrase meaning “All at once.” In English we call it “Wet-On-Wet,” or “Direct” painting. It generally means that a small painting is begun and finished in one sitting, and it’s a really fun and freeing way to paint. If you can’t finish your piece in one day, don’t worry - it’s a great idea to break the process into chunks. Perhaps you’ll do your drawing or block-in one day, mix some paint, and then complete the portrait the following day. Remember, oil paint stores well in the freezer!

I’ll demonstrate paint mixing, and then do six 20 minute sittings with the live model. Work at your own pace, and remember to take breaks!

 

LESSON 6 - FACIAL FEATURES

Join me for a more in-depth look at the facial features, and learn some specific tips to tackle each one in the final demo of our workshop! This is one of my favorite exercises, looking really closely at each feature, and simplifying complicated forms by breaking them down into geometrical shapes.

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BONUS LESSON - MODEL SET-UP

Settingupyourmodel

Let’s talk models! Whether you’re participating in an open studio session or posing a model, friend, or family member in your home studio, here are some tips for working from life.

COURSE IS OPEN - SELF-STUDY

Lifetime Access - Download All Content

Price - $149

MEET SARAH SEDWICK - ARTIST/INSTRUCTOR

Sedwick_bio photo

A prolific painter of still life and portraits, Sarah has been teaching workshops on alla prima painting around the country since 2013, and also offers an online art mentorship program.

Based in Eugene, Oregon since 2007, Sarah was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  In 2001, she earned a BFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art. Her oil paintings explore the simple beauty of everyday objects, and are most often inspired by color combinations and perceptual effects. All are painted from life.

Her teaching philosophy is simple: the more you paint, the more yoU improve - so find ways to make painting as enjoyable as possible! Let go of perfectionism, and watch the results unfold.

PRIVATE GROUP JUST FOR YOU!

 

This course will have a private Facebook group just for you!  This course is a self-study, so Sarah may or may not be active in the group.  However, students are signing up all of the time and you can see past and present work and comments.

COURSE SUPPLIES

Below is a list of the supplies that I will be using for the projects in this course.  However, you are always encouraged to use what you have on hand. 

 

  • Paper:
    • Four printed copies of the drawing for Shifting Light.
    • One canvas, any size, for the long pose portrait. I will be working on an 11x14”
    • One 11x14” or 12x16” canvas for painting the facial features
  • Paints - I use M. Graham brand. Here are the Zorn palette colors: (in parentheses are possible substitutions)
  • Brushes - I use Princeton Summit Series white taklon, but I encourage you to use what you’re comfortable with. A good starter kit is a #2 round and a #4 flat and a #4 or #6 filbert.
  • Palette - a 12x16 (or larger) disposable paper palette pad - or two! Get white, not gray.
  • Palette knife – About 2 inches long, and flexible. You want to be able to scoop up a pile of paint with it. I like the RGM softgrip no. 45 (blue handle)
  • Rags or paper towels (I like disposable blue shop towels, available at hardware stores)
  • Gamsol
  • 2 glass jars with tight-fitting lids, for Gamsol (one for clean Gamsol to use while painting, one to pour your dirty Gamsol into at the end of each painting day. It will settle, and clean Gamsol can be poured off the top and reused.)

Along with all of these supplies, I also have my favorite easel that I wanted to share about! What I love about the LederEasel is that I can travel with it, and it is so compact! I have created a short video to share more about this easel with you, and a link to purchase if you are interested!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON ACCESSING CLASSES AND SELLING WORK CREATED IN THIS COURSE:

**Upon purchasing your course, you will be asked to create an account and go through the purchase process (even if the cost is $0 for a free course).  If you have already created an account, after purchase your course will IMMEDIATELY be available under “LOGIN” at the top right-hand of karabullockart.com.

**If your course does not show up, please email us at karabullockart@gmail.com

**Due to the nature of the immediate availability of the course, all purchases are nonrefundable.

**Please talk to the artist of the course about his/her policy on selling artwork created in this course prior to selling any works created during course.  Some artists will allow it, while others do not.  Thank you for your support.

10 reviews for ZORN PALETTE PORTRAITS

  1. Nancy Barnes (verified owner)

    This was a wonderful class. Sarah is a great teacher. I learned so much from her about the Zorn palette and skin tones. She also taught quite a bit about doing a portrait. I enjoyed the class so much I signed up for her still life class, also a fun class.

  2. Kathy OBrien (verified owner)

    I would give this class more than 5 stars!! Sarah Sedgwick is an awesome instructor. She has a way of teaching that just made everything so clear to. me, and I learned more than I could have hoped for, Thank you Sarah for one of the best courses I’ve taken, and thank you Kara for having Sarah as one of the many great instructors of Let’s Face It!

  3. Harinder Sahota (verified owner)

    Have really enjoyed the classes. Very informative. Sarah is a great teacher and her help and comments are very encouraging. Highly recommended!

  4. Steve Carmean (verified owner)

    Great instruction both visually and verbally by Sarah and such professional filming. by Kara’s crew. Also a treasure trove of still photos, illustrations, printouts and in depth step by step video painting. Sarah also makes herself available to critique student’s work, answer questions and offer suggestions via the private Facebook group. Well worth the modest fee!

  5. Deborah Masterson (verified owner)

    The karabullockart website interface is seamless and dead easy to navigate and use. I am especially grateful that the videos are downloadable as my connection is not always reliable. The content is not “staged” (i.e., over-edited) as far as I can tell. Sarah paints in real time, warts and all.

    And special appreciation to Sarah for her calm presence and quiet capability. In her ongoing commentary she repeats the important principles as well as including practical tips for making the most of a live model, be it solo or in a group situation. Overall, the class is just the right length. It allows us to learn and hone an important and time-honored technique without overwhelming us with extraneaous details and miscellaneous extras.

  6. Chris Jones (verified owner)

    Follow Sara’s simple, easy to accomplish steps, and improve with each lesson. I could see improvement in my own as well as my fellow students’ work with each class. I enrolled in both the Zorn Palette and her still life course. Both courses expanded my knowledge and helped me gain the confidence to apply paint to canvas.

  7. Rachel Viviane Matos (verified owner)

    Sarah is an excellent teacher. She is very organized and thorough You can see she put a lot of thought into how best teach her process. She drops here and there her shortcuts and good advice on not making mistakes. On the other hand when she reviews your work her comments address your strength and points to how to see your weakness. I have taken two classes with her and will keep taken her future classes. I learned a lot about color, shapes, light and shadow and of course the marvels of the Zorn palette. I highly recommend her classes.

  8. Ashley Stringer (verified owner)

    I struggled with color mixing with the zorn palette for some time until stumbling across this class. Sarah’s class helped me immensely especially when it came to warming/cooling colors, etc. Definitely recommend!

  9. Marcy Roth (verified owner)

    Values have been so challenging for me. Sarah’s class has been a “lightbulb” moment! Mixing the five values and then watching Sarah’s demo of portrait painting were so helpful. I highly recommend this class!!

  10. Erinclare Scrutton (verified owner)

    Sarah is a fantastic teacher because she is working her own practise constantly therefore her knowledge comes from her own easel. I have learnt so much from just watching her work. She is also very organised in her practise which is helpful to give you a good foundation when you are starting out. Totally worth every penny.

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