Dripping with Emotion: Expressive Portraits in Motion (Aug 8-9)
Instructor: Donna Downey
Duration of Class: Two Days (12 hours)
Medium: Acrylic Painting
Skill Level: All
Let’s get messy and explore the beauty of drips, layers, and expressive color together in this 2-day workshop, where we’ll dive deep into creating bold, fluid portraits. Using acrylics, we’ll focus on the importance of value and how to push color to tell a story that feels alive. I’ll walk you through my drippy, loose approach to portraiture—letting the paint flow and guide the process, while you relax into the freedom of letting go.
Instructor: Donna Downey
Duration of Class: Two Days (12 hours)
Medium: Acrylic Painting
Skill Level: All
Let’s get messy and explore the beauty of drips, layers, and expressive color together in this 2-day workshop, where we’ll dive deep into creating bold, fluid portraits. Using acrylics, we’ll focus on the importance of value and how to push color to tell a story that feels alive. I’ll walk you through my drippy, loose approach to portraiture—letting the paint flow and guide the process, while you relax into the freedom of letting go.
Instructor: Donna Downey
Duration of Class: Two Days (12 hours)
Medium: Acrylic Painting
Skill Level: All
Let’s get messy and explore the beauty of drips, layers, and expressive color together in this 2-day workshop, where we’ll dive deep into creating bold, fluid portraits. Using acrylics, we’ll focus on the importance of value and how to push color to tell a story that feels alive. I’ll walk you through my drippy, loose approach to portraiture—letting the paint flow and guide the process, while you relax into the freedom of letting go.
Whether you’ve never painted a portrait or have tons of experience, this workshop is for everyone. We’ll be working on two canvases, layering color, experimenting with both fluid and heavy-body acrylics, and really embracing those “happy accidents” that happen along the way. If you need help getting your portrait onto the canvas, don’t worry—I’ll have my projector on hand, and you can easily transfer in class.
We’re going to drip a lot—so bring your old towel and be ready for an exciting, hands-on experience! By the end, you’ll have two expressive, unique portraits that reflect your own personal style, with plenty of space for experimentation along the way.
Supplies:
2 canvases (prefer 20x20 or larger, but for travel restrictions 16x16 fits better in most suitcases and will be perfectly fine too!) If you know you work fast you may want to bring one more
Neocolor 2 crayon in a neutral color for drawing your outline onto the canvas (optional: only if you want to transfer an outline of your portrait at home you can as well. I will bring my projector for students to use so you do not have to draw.)
Spray water bottle (trigger, not pump)
Large and small brushes
Old towel (because we will drip a lot)
Fluid and/or heavy-body acrylics (bring the colors you love, but I tend to use Payne’s Gray, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Quinacridone Magenta, Titan Mars Pale, Alizarin Crimson, Pyrrole Orange, and lots of Titanium White)
Paper towels
Brush water bucket
Baby wipes
Paper towels
Let’s have fun, play with color, and bring some emotion into those drips. I can’t wait to see what you create!
Provided by Instructor: Reference images and projector
Class Size:
Min # of students: 10
Max # of students: 20
