Artist Joe MacKechnie is a signature member of the pastel Society of America, Northwest Watercolor Society of America, Northwest Pastel Society and the Puget Sound Group of NW Artists. He is a member of the Portrait Society of America, the Oil Painters of America and has served as president of the Eastside Association of Fine Arts and president of the Puget Sound Group of NW artists. Joe teaches art workshops locally and in Europe. He has artworks in several local galleries in the Settle area, Alaska, The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio and the National Arts Club, Grand Gallery in New York, NY. He has won many local and national art awards and has been featured in the Pastel Journal magazine, Southwest Art magazine, American Art Collector magazine and Strokes of Genius.
Joe was born in Petersburg, Alaska and raised in the Pacific Northwest. As an engineering graduate of the University of Washington, he worked as a computer network design engineer in the Seattle area for many years. Following retirement, Joe pursued a career in fine art.
| Course Description Frustrated that you can’t seem to make great portraits? Do you lack the necessary drawing skills? Are you tired of producing photographic style portraits? Artist Joe Mac Kechnie will first review the basics of drawing and painting the portrait. Then you will learn several approaches to making creative works of art. Every section will have a lecture, demo and lots of hands-on experience. This workshop is suitable for beginners through advanced artists. Bottom of Form DAY 1 Morning session: Portrait Drawing Fundamentals This section covers fundamental Portrait drawing techniques with an emphasis on measuring and drawing the subjects correctly. This section will introduce techniques for making the drawing come to life. We will be working with charcoal, ink and photo references. Afternoon session: Tonal Rendering Correctly drawing dark and light forms will be key to getting a subject to look three dimensional. DAY 2 Morning session: Introducing Color. The morning session will address adding color to a drawing using various color mediums. We will be using watercolors, acrylics and/or pastels. We will be working with photo references provided by the instructor. Afternoon session: Open studio and critiques The afternoon session of DAY 2 will be an open studio, allowing you to create and paint on your own. The instructor will be available to assist you with ideas and techniques for creating you own realistic animal artworks. You will be working with photo references provided by the instructor or you can bring in your own reference photos. You can use any medium(s) you desire. A critique of your work(s) will occur at the end of DAY 2. DAY 3 Morning Session: Making creative artworks using experimental techniques The instructor will introduce experimental approaches to painting portraits that will lead to highly personalized, dramatic images. You will discover ways to really have fun with your drawing and painting materials. Your natural creativity can emerge into surprisingly interesting artworks that defy easy categorization as realist or abstract works. Afternoon session: Open studio and critiques The afternoon session of DAY 3 will be an open studio, allowing you to create and paint on your own. The instructor will be available to assist you with ideas and techniques for creating you own animal artworks. You will be working with photo references provided by the instructor or you can bring in your own reference photos. You can use any medium(s) you desire. A critique of your work(s) will occur at the end of DAY 3. MATERIALS LIST:The preferred mediums for this workshop are charcoal, inks, watercolor, acrylics and pastels. Erasers Kneaded eraser Gum eraser Hard white eraser Tombow Mono 57305 Zero Eraser, Round 2.3 mm or General’s Factis eraser pen Expo white board dry erasers Charcoals Bob’s Soft vine charcoal sticks and bricks (variety of sizes, ¼” and larger) Note: if you can’t find the Bob’s charcoal in assorted sizes, don’t worry, I will be bringing extra with me. Soft compressed black charcoal or pastel bricks, 3 pack (Alphacolor Char-Kole) Pentalic woodless charcoal 3-piece pencil set Inks Permanent Inks and Pens:Sharpie Extra Fine Point permanent marker Water-Soluble Inks and Pens: ·Speedball 2880 Elegant Writer 4 Calligraphy Marker Instructional SetPastelsSmall set of half-stick “soft” pastels, not more than 20 colors (if you don’t have any pastels, I will have extras for you to use) Acrylics (Optional)If you already have some acrylics, bring them with you. If you don’t, I will provide them for this workshop. WatercolorsIf you aren’t an acrylic painter, ok to use watercolors Paper and canvasArches Cold or Hot press, 140lb watercolor paper, two full sheets (or equivalent)Drawing paper: Canson’s XL Sketch/Esqiusse/Croquis pad, medium tooth, 18x24in (or equivalent) Brushes – A variety of large and small brushes; acrylic and watercolor brushes work great. I will also be providing a bunch of used brushes for this workshop. OtherStiff drawing foam core board or drawing board, 24x26Soft paper towelsRagsHair dryer |