Mixed Media Portraits from Kaleidoscope Taster
I had shared earlier about the Kaleidoscope Taster sessions offered by Tamara LaPorte of Willowing Arts. I didn’t get through as many as I wanted before the initial session was closed. Then Tamara generously gave another 7 days of free taster sessions. Yay! I worked fast and furious over the weekend to get in as many as I could. I chose a selection of mixed media portraits. My studio was a scene of chaos for four days!
Selection Process
I wanted to do all the lessons, but I needed to it narrow down to lessons I could realistically do over the weekend. Although I was drawn to many, I opted to look for artists whose work I had not tried in the past and I wanted to focus on faces.
I also tried to find subjects or techniques that were new to me or outside my comfort zone. I chose two portraits of African American models, Joan of Arc, and a wonky portrait style. The Kaleidoscope Taster sessions and especially the full course dives into color theory for students to gain a better understanding of color theory and color mixing.
Kate Higgins – Joan of Arc in Colored Pencil
https://www.facebook.com/katehigginsart/
Colored pencil layering is a painstaking and time-consuming project. Layers are built up with colored pencils after sketching the portrait with graphite.
I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the result, but I imported the drawing into Procreate where I’ll play with it more.
Jenny Manno – Wonky Portrait
Jenny’s style has appealed to me, but I’ve shied away from painting faces that aren’t realistic. In this lesson, Jenny suggested using an analogous color scheme. Analogous colors are those found next to each other on the color wheel.
This lesson used an interesting image transfer technique that was a total failure for me as I tried to use a marker that didn’t transfer well. I worked through the worst of it and found I liked this wonky style.
Nadyia Duff – Black Female Astronaut Portrait
https://www.nadyiaduffart.com/illustrations
Nadyia presented another analogous color lesson. The model was of Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
I liked this lesson as it used many of the art supplies I’ve gathered over the years but didn’t quite know what to do with them. I used colored pens, alcohol markers, inks, acrylic paint, and watercolor.
I went my own way by including the orange suit and the galaxy background. I like this one!
Dylan Sara – Painting the Gangster Gardener
Dylan presented a portrait of Ron Finley, known as the Gangster Gardener. His story is inspiring as he is committed to bringing gardens and fresh foods to urban deserts.
Dylan used a duo chromatic palette and created homemade inks using beet root and turmeric. I did not have beet root. I had turmeric but not the tea filters to filter it. I did have some acrylic inks in similar colors, so I used them. I may try the homemade inks in the future as the concept aligns with my thought process that making art doesn’t require expensive supplies.
My end result was much bolder than Dylan’s and the subject matter was a challenge to me to get the proportions and values right. Still, I’m pleased with the result.
Takeaways
I learned new ways to use supplies that aren’t always in my “go-to” corner. I Iearned ways to obtain values and colors by layering. I really liked these lessons. I’m considering buying the full course to delve deeper into color theory.
What do you think? Should I go for it?
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