Painting Self-Portraits with Sara Reeve

Working with oil paint, we will be exploring the fundamentals of painting self-portraits, including plenty of warm up exercises to get comfortable working from a mirror. We will look at self-portraits by other artists and will use these as inspiration to make decisions on composition, colour, tonal value and style in your own painting. We will be using oil paint for our self-portraits, and Sara will guide you through best practise if you’ve not used oil paint before. This course is suitable for both beginners and students who’ve had some painting experience.

What to expect

This will be a relaxed, safe and supportive space for you to create an honest, reflective, low-pressure self-portrait – marking a moment in time for both yourself and your artistic practice. Sara will provide individual guidance, feedback and demonstrations throughout the weekend. There will be a 1-hour lunch break and tea breaks throughout both days; if you have any questions just get in touch on [email protected].

Day 1: After a variety of warm up exercises to get used to drawing and painting ourselves we will work out a composition for our self-portraits, drawing inspiration from historical and contemporary artworks and completing an underpainting in oil paint ready for Day Two.

Day 2: Over the course of day two we will complete a self-portrait in oil paint with each participant thinking through their use of colour, tonal value and style. By the end of the workshop, you will have the confidence to continue to experiment with self-portraiture, with ideas for an annual selfie to mark your progress!

What you need to bring

Oil paint, solvent, oil painting paper, palettes and palette knives will be provided. You will need to bring:

• A white, pre-primed wooden panel or canvas board, around A3 in size

• Brushes suitable for oil painting (recommend a large, medium and small brush as a minimum). Sara uses Rosemary & Co Ivory Short Flats (long handle) in sizes 12, 8 & 4.

• Rags or kitchen roll for brush cleaning

• Apron & suitable painting clothes

• Please note: you’ll be working on the same painting over the two days, so it will be easier if you wear the same outfit/hairstyle/accessories both days etc for continuity. Think about what you wear in your painting, including what colours you might want to paint yourself in. Consider wearing an accessory or jewellry that means something to you to add an interesting element to your painting.

Getting to the studio

You’re welcome to arrive from 9.45am. Approach New England House from the New England Street side of the building and walk up to the locked blue double doors next to the sign for the ‘Building Manager’s Office’. Wait to be let in or call the number on the door for entry - the studio is on level 5, Unit 1 South, just knock and walk in. There is parking at London Road car park, Elder Place & Trafalgar St car parks; Brighton station is a 5-minute walk from the studio.

Discounts

The discounted rate is available for anybody on low income, students or Draw Patreon supporters. Become a Draw Patreon supporter by signing up to the Draw Patreon from just £3.60 per month. You’ll get the in-person concessionary rate, plus Patreons get tiered access to a wealth of resources including our extensive artist’s photo reference library, live online life drawing & portrait drawing classes, online recorded courses and much more. Whether you are a Patreon supporter or not, you can post your drawings on the Draw community Facebook group and tag @draw_brighton and #drawbrighton on Instagram.

Safety & accessibility

For the wellbeing of everybody at the class please don’t come to the class if you are ill with contagious symptoms. If you have any accessibility needs, please do let us know beforehand and we will do everything we can to make sure you can enjoy the life classes here. The building has a wheelchair ramp at the North side of the New England Street entrance and lifts up to level 5 with gender-neutral toilets & accessible toilets on floors 4 & 6 accessed by lift. Oil paints will be used at this session and we will be using odourless solvent (no turps) throughout the course - our air purifier and good ventilation will help to control fumes.

We keep the studio a safe environment by providing:

• Monitored ventilation (aiming for <900ppm CO2)

• Air purification with HEPA filters

• Sick pay for our freelance life models

• If you have covid, flu or bad cold symptoms we ask you not to attend - you will receive a refund as well as our appreciation!

Cancellations

Bookings are non-refundable. If you are unwell with a contagious illness you may not attend the class - you can request a refund here on Eventbrite and we can issue a full refund, minus Eventbrite's fees. If you are unable to attend, please do get in touch with us on [email protected] to discuss the options for transferring your place to another attendee.

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