Nancy Franke Workshop

A few weeks ago Nancy Franke gave a one day Children's workshop.  It wasn't painting portraits, but painting children while they are doing some kind of activity.  A while back I took a still life workshop from Nancy so I knew I would enjoy this and learn a lot in a short amount of time.  With Nancy's energy she makes a workshop so informative and fun.  I highly recommend taking a workshop with her.  The workshop started with Nancy doing a demo painting her granddaughter.  When you are going to paint children you really need to spend a lot of time with the drawing getting the proportions correct.  Also, when working from a photo you don't have to use the background as it is shown in the photo.  You have the liberty to put the child on the beach instead or in a meadow etc.  Also, always look for the "S" shape in the human form and look for the angles.  Nancy uses a very limited palette, which uses primaries that are warm and cool with Lukas White.  I use a limited palette, but it has more colors then Nancy's so there was some adjustment.  In my painting I painted my sister-in-law Angela with my nephew Aidan.  I took the photo at the aquarium one day.  I was the only one that added another person in their painting, but for me I think the basic shapes were easier for me to start out with at the workshop.  I don't get a chance to paint people much so I wanted to try something more simple for that day. 

Nancy's sketch for demo.

Nancy's finished demo.

Angela and Aidan

I know I have so much to learn and practice in painting children and from photos.  I really enjoyed the workshop and for a start I think I did okay.