Workshops

Class size is limited, and students may join anytime, space permitting.

During the Academic year, weekend workshops are offered about once a month. The topic of each workshop is unique, with a focus on specialized areas of interest. Past workshops that have been very popular include Drawing Hair, Painting Facial Features, Working from Photographs, Texture, Reverse Drawing, Alla Prima Portraits, Figure Sketch amongst many others. Normally each workshop topic will only be offered once, and will not be repeated.

Class size is between 6 and 12. Usually there is a mix of new and regular atelier students. Workshops take place on Saturday all day and Sunday morning. There is a one-hour lunch break on Saturday. Students are able to bring their own lunch or go to one of the many restaurants nearby.

Homework is not assigned but extra handouts are distributed so that students may continue practicing what they learned in their own time.

Upcoming Workshops

Facial Exressions

Drawing Hands

Past Workshops

Constructive Anatomy for Portraits

Facial Features

Drawing Hair

The ability to draw hair is indispensable to creating a natural-looking portrait. The way a person wears their hair both frames the face physically, and reveals that model’s personality and character, whether intentionally or not. How the artist depicts that hair can add volumes to the narrative of the portrait, and can also be a point of pride in how skillful the artist really is. Conversely, poorly drawn hair can be the downfall of a well-executed portrait.

In this 9-hour workshop, students will be taken through a comprehensive set of exercises that will de-mystify what might seem like the most confusing part of the human form to draw. Starting with a new vision of how to see and understand hair as a single unit, and how light acts on hair to reveal the complexity of its nature, the workshop will cover different colours of hair, including blonde, brunette and very dark hair, as well as straight, wavy, and curly hair. And we will look at short cropped hair, long hair and hassled hair.

This is a workshop that will definitely add to your skills and will take your figure drawing and portrait drawing to the next level.

Beginners and experienced artists are all welcome.

Plein Air Primer

Right in time for the summer, this workshop is an introduction to painting outdoors.

The subject matter could vary from faraway vistas to waterfront views, skyscapes, quaint storefront pictures or portraits of animals in the field.

What all these have in common is the artist being immersed in the outdoor environment and in the subject matter of the painting. The idea is to capture quick colour notes in oil that capture the essence and spontenaity of the moment.

This workshop covers everything you need to know to paint outdoors, what materials to use, how to set up field easels, where to go, painting with a group or a buddy, how to transport wet painting back and much more. We will cover how to tone canvas boards and paint a few quick landscape sketches in preparation to venturing out to a new and rewarding activity.

Beginners and experienced painters are all welcome.

Introduction to Oil Painting

This is a comprehensive and hands-on guide to Classical Oil Painting. Starting with materials, students will learn about different kinds of oil paint, mediums, solvents, grounds, canvases, linens, and wood supports. We will examine brushes, and the kind of brushwork that each variation can produce, and we will cover care and storage of all materials and finished work.

The workshop will continue with the principles of oil painting, both direct and indirect methods, and glazing techniques.

Students will be given a series of simple exercises to practice values, compositions and colour mixing.

Drawing Animals

In this fun workshop, students will be guided in drawing their favourite animals. A variety of domestic and exotic animal drawing will be offered, including horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, wolves, and others. Some animals will be in repose, and others in action poses, and yet others will be details of portraits only.

We will focus on shapes, gesture and expression, and how to depict those with line drawing, as well as with nicely rendered values. Line drawings can be beautifully articulated and stand as completed works of art in their own right.

Fur, pattern and texture of different animals will also be covered.

Introduction to Portrait in Oils

This weekend is designed for beginner portrait painters, and for more experienced portraitists who wish to fill foundational gaps.  Students will paint a series of hands-on exercises to understand and master facial structure, planes of the head, skin tones and facial features.

Introduction to Figure in Oils

Take your life drawing skills to the next level with oil painting.   An intensive weekend with a series of quick hands-on exercises.  These introduce the life drawer to using paint, and then to using a super simple and adaptable skin tone palette, with modifications for many different skin types.

Testimonials:

“We are so fortunate to have such a gifted maestro in Vancouver. I have studied under Mandy for over six months now and am truly inspired by her incredible talent and her ability to share her knowledge in such a comprehensive way. The time spent in Mandy’s atelier is time well spent.”

– Mary N.

“Mandy is a born teacher. I don’t know a single student who hasn’t progressed, in some cases, massively, under her patient and thought-provoking training.  Trust me, you will learn “how” to draw.”

– Jo-Ann T.