It was a rare treat to watch and learn from Sherrie McGraw as she painted the model Henry's portrait during a 2-hour evening demo, September 26, 2018, at the Salmagundi Club, New York, NY.
Fully engaging all present, Sherrie explained how she begins a painting and applies paint to capture the movement of light over form. She emphasized taking a long time to not only establish size and placement on the canvas, but to get a sense of what you are going for in the painting, the "visual concept," so that the "finish" of the painting is there to guide you from the beginning.
Key points included:
- working under life-size to bring the viewer into the world of the painting
- putting enough paint down to be able to push it around and even "get into trouble"
- uses hand as support for brush to avoid drawing
- painting is a process of editing visual information
- working from life gets life into the painting
Visit our blog here to learn more about Sherrie McGraw's numerous accomplishments as both artist and teacher.
