Which video fits best for my development..

[Richard Budig]

Marrianne

Like you, I consider myself still a student, even though I've been painting for years.

I've been buying and watching videos and cd's of just about every portrait painter I can find for a good price. I look through ebay every once in a while, too. I sometimes find painting videos for less money on ebay.

I have also gone to several "workshops," including two with Daniel Greene, and several with local or regionally known artists (local to the USA, that is.). It is because going to these workshops is so expensive that I began buying videos and cd's. It's much less expensive paying $50 or $100 for a video than, say, almost a thousand dollars (counting living expenses and the price of the workshop) to go study with an artist.

The good thing about the videos and cd's is that you can watch them over and over, and you will always learn something from them. The surprising thing, for me, was/is that while I learned from each video, I often did not learn what I thought I would learn. For example, I was surprised to learn all about "gray" from John Howard Sanden. I learned some other things, also, but watching him use his "neutrals," as he calls them, was educational for me.

The same with several other videos I have. Also, you get to here the viewpoints and educational gems of several artists instead of just one.

If you can't go to workshops, buy videos form several artists. See what they have to say.

About Zorn . . . did you know that his basic flesh palette consisted of only four paints -- cad red light, yellow ocher, and black and white. Look at his work. It will stun you when you realize he painted all that glowing flesh with those four paints.

My point is, you don't need a box full of paint to be a painter. Zorn prooved that.

A fellow here in the states -- Marvin Mattelson -- paints stunning work with Indian red, terra rosa (or Venetian red), yellow and black and white.

In fact, it's a very good learning experience to pick a red, a yellow, and ivory black and white and paint a few heads with just these colors. It's amazing the range of flesh tones you can get from this very limited palette.

Best of luck.