“Feeling Groovy”
A short summary highlight of Ted Nuttall’s
September workshop in Homer
by MIke Murray
I chose “Feeling Groovy” because of the beginning lyrics in
that once popular song … “Slow down, you’re movin’ too fast….”
Ted Nuttall began his workshop emphasizing the power of
slowing down. “Be patient! I’m a tight painter so my paintings look loose
(spontaneous).”
Ted talked, shared slides of his work and that of others,
and demonstrated his style of painting each morning session, while afternoon was spent painting as Ted
moved about the room meeting with each participant, offering suggestions,
encouragement, problem solving, etc. The subject was portrait
painting from photos. Ted also painted on any number of his own works
from early morning until the start of the workshop each day. Participants could come in quietly and
watch his process evolve as long as they were quiet and did not ask
questions. This was a wonderful
opportunity to gain insight into the painting process he follows.
Ted works from his own photographs which he crops and often
copies in black and white so he gets a good idea of value. He originally was a
very high key painter (strongly influenced by Charles Reid) but has moved into much
more vivid color over time. Still his paintings have a much lighter value than
the photos themselves. He noted that photos tend to lie to the eye in terms of
how dark shadows are. He also notes that you can always go darker by layering
glaze over glaze. It is difficult to go lighter once you have a very dark value
down.
He looks at shapes almost as small abstracts. Look at
an eye like an abstract painting.
He also spends a great deal of time looking –studying the subject. He
never assumes a shape – and the importance of hard and soft edges and their
use.
Throughout his lectures and examples Ted
noted various other artists and references that we could study further. These
included not only watercolor painters but also photographers, graphic artists,
oil painters, etc. He noted anatomy and emphasis on looking. In order to see
you must look.
He encouraged us to find a direction we
wanted to go and pursue it each individually. Going back to the earlier tips – find something you are
passionate about and then really focus on it.
Oh yah, and he gave us homework on the last day as we
were getting ready to end the workshop.
That’s like a teacher giving you homework just before summer vacation!
Haha
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