5 day workshop

• All Materials included (except paint brushes)

485€

• Payment via installments available

The Zorn Palette is a limited palette of 4 colours, attributed to the Swedish, 19th century painter, Anders Zörn. The palette usually consists of Vermillion, Yellow Ochre, White (traditionally lead white) and Ivory Black. In this workshop, we will be using Naphthol Red, Yellow Ochre, Titanium White and Ivory Black. This palette is especially beneficial in portraits, as it facilitates greater colour harmony and the rendering of form through value.

In this five day portrait workshop, Sam will guide the students in learning to sketch the portrait, directly with paint, using a monochrome approach known as the “imprimatura”. The focus will be on creating a simple value design, using proportion, shape simplification light and shadow. Students will then learn to mix the basic, zorn palette, into flesh tones, in order to create an “alla prima” one day portrait. The mechanics of light and form will be explored, both visually and conceptually. From these basic exercises, the students will progress to a more complex portrait, with a greater focus on compositional design, solid drawing and colour harmony.

Sam Clayden is a professional portrait artist based in Wimbledon, London. He spends much of his time working on portrait commissions, paintings for exhibition and teaching. He is a frequent exhibitor in London, most regularly with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. He won the Michael Harding Oil Painting Prize for a portrait at this year’s Green & Stone Summer Exhibition. Inspired by artists from every era, Sam is mostly drawn to the works of the Renaissance and Baroque, the late 19th Century academics and their Impressionist counterparts as well as many contemporary artists. Sam’s belief is that nature, light, atmosphere and simple shape and colour design can be harnessed to communicate something that words cannot and that anyone with the will can learn to paint.