ABOUT THIS COURSE

Over two days, you will be covering one of Kayla’s favourite subjects — shoes! Are they arguing? Are they friends? Are they holding shoe-laces? With hundreds of ways to pose your favourite footwear, the options are endless. So join us for this workshop with Kayla, and together you will focus on painting with loose, thick paint, model complex objects, and composition. 

Workshop Outline

• Kayla will paint from a previously completed painting and provide a photo of the still life setup, but you may choose to arrange your own and paint from life, or take a photo of your setup and paint from that. 

• Special focus will be drawn to the composition of our shoes, and how to ensure movement of the eye

• Because breaking objects into the light and shadow forms at the terminator is extremely important, you will cover the theory of modelling

• Starting with an underpainting, you will work on the painting over the two days using an allá prima process

• You’ll receive feedback at each stage (for online students, see “Online Students” text)

• And as always, Kayla will include a lot of butchered quotes about painting

 What Students Should Expect to Achieve

Understanding of how to model all basic shapes, and apply those techniques to any subject.
Able to demonstrate how light flows over different objects.
Understanding of how we can vary paint thickness to achieve dynamic layers in oil paint.
Composition tips and techniques for composing still life and interiors, how to set yourself up for success.
Inspiration for painting every day, loving what you do. How to apply paint confidently and loosely.
Critiques and feedback on all work.

Online Students

If you are joining online you will get a separate 10 minute video at the end of each day with a recording of Kayla speaking to corrections of your work which she will do in procreate. A lot of students have found this very helpful, as you can see exactly step-by-step the changes Kayla make on the photo of your painting.  

Materials needed

Paints 

• Minimum: three primary colours + white

• Preferred: a warm and cool of each primary colour

• My pallette: Caribbean turquoise, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cadmium red, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, and titantium white. All colours are in the Sennelier brand of paint.

Brushes & Tools

• A flexible palette knife for mixing paint on the palette

• A glass, disposable, or similar painting palette, I will be using a grey glass palette

• A medium-large sized flat brush, I will be using a medium long handle flat (size 5) both from Rosemary & Co synthetic Ivory range

• Paper towels

• Protective glove for left hand

Canvas

• A stretched canvas or canvas panel, no bigger than 30x30

• My canvas will be a Bella Art brand, oil primed using Gamblin oil primer in white

Meet kayla

Kayla lives and paints in the beautiful countryside of Wicklow, Ireland. She loves bringing to life the spirit and beauty of every day things on the canvas and each painting is a little conversation between her and those special characters. Kayla uses alla prima techniques in her work, and maintains dynamic and expressive brushwork.

Kayla’s paintings have been shown in exhibitions in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England, including The Royal Society of Oil Painters(ROI), The Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA), The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA), Society of Women Artists(SWA), Dublin Painting & Sketching Club (DPSC), Graphic Society of Fine Art (GSFA), and others. 

Kayla is a member of the Society of Women Artists. 

Also see https://www.kmmartellart.com/about for any additional information