I am very pleased to announce that I am moving to a larger studio! 

We have been preparing the space for the last couple of weeks, and now I can finally share a sneak peek.

The new studio is 1800 square feet, with 18 foot ceilings and a wall of north light windows. We have painted the walls a classic “atelier gray”, and installed brand new glossy black flooring. There is a separate small space for my own painting studio, and the rest of the space is wide open for classes and workshops.

The studio is just a half mile from my old space. It is located on Bryant Street, just north of 16th street, near the the Protrero shopping center.

With the larger space, we are now offering even more classes and workshops:

Non-Instructed Figure Model Sessions
Tuesday and Thursday evenings
Monday and Wednesday daytime
To see the full schedule and register for the first round of sessions beginning the week of February 6, please visit:
http://www.sadievaleri.com/model-sessions/

Drawing and Painting Classes
There are still a few spots left in our Winter/Spring schedule of classes, see all upcoming classes here: http://www.sadievaleri.com/classes/

Advanced Open Studio
For artists who have completed group painting or drawing classes and wish to practice their skills with Sadie’s help and instruction, we are offering Advanced Open Studio on Sundays.
For more information visit:
http://www.sadievaleri.com/advanced-open-studio/

Easel Assembly / Pizza Party / Champagne Toast
We would like to invite our local studio friends to a sneak previw of the new digs! We invite anyone to drop by the new space on Friday, January 13th, 4pm-9pm.
If you are feeling handy, we would love your help assembling our fresh batch of fancy new easels. And even if you are not particulary adept with assembly, please stop by for a slice of pizza and a glass of champagne anyway!
(Note: Those who arrive on the early side can get a glimpse of our lovely north light before sunset!)
Please RSVP to info@sadievaleri.com and we will send you the address.

I would like to thank everyone who took classes and workshops from me in the last few years. It is through your support and dedication to Realism that this expansion of the Sadie Valeri Atelier is even possible.

I hope you will enjoy the new space in 2012!

-Sadie

Orange Dahlias, 9x9, oil on linen

Ever since I got a lesson from Michael Klein in direct-method flower painting a couple months ago I’ve wanted to try it again, and once I got home from France I finally had a chance.

Tiny Rose Arrangement, 8x10, oil on linen

The landscape painting also was a good warm-up for direct method painting in the studio. I usually paint Indirect, or Flemish method - where I work in many layers, allowing each layer to dry completely before applying more paint.

Scattered Flowers, 14x18, oil on linen

With Direct method, wet paint is layered over wet paint, and most of the strokes of paint you make will be visible in the final piece. The goal is to get the correct hue, value, chroma, and edge down in each stroke, without adjusting.

For these paintings I am using New Traditions L600 lead-primed linen which comes in big rolls you can cut to the size you need.

I started each painting with an underpainting just using Burnt Umber to work out the composition, basic values, and placement of the objects.

I used Rosemary brushes which I like a lot, they are totally different than the more controlled Robert Simmons white sable brushes I use for Indirect painting.

Red Lilies, 12x16, oil on linen

All of these paintings were done alla prima, meaning in a single day’s painting session. Direct painting can be done in one session or over many days or weeks, but each stroke is painted as it is meant to be seen in the final painting.

And now I’m back to my regular Indirect method, as I have been working the last few days on a preparatory drawing for a new piece which will take me about a month to complete. I won’t have much time to paint in the next few weeks, between teaching my workshop, various short travels, and attending Weekend with the Masters, but it’s been fun to start at least.

NEW CLASS: 

Due to high demand I am now offering an additional Figure Drawing Class this fall:

6 Saturdays 12pm-4pm 
September 17, 24
October 1, 8, 15, 22

Sign up for Figure Drawing Fall 2011 here

This is a “quick” three-hour study I did last night in our Thursday evening model session. This will only be a 2-session pose, so I wanted to get as far as possible so next week I can focus on modeling form.

I took photos of the whole process of blocking in the figure:

I started just marking the top and bottom, and left and right, to get the whole positioned well on the page.

Then I took a mid-point measurement vertically. Since this particular pose is almost as wide as it is tall, I also took a horizontal mid-point measurement. For both marks, I make a visual note of where on the model the exact halfway points hit. 

I found during the process that I had initially over-estimated the width of the pose. I had a choice: I could increase the height, or decrease the width to bring the figure into proportion. I decided, based on the placement on the page, to make the figure smaller not larger, and so I brought both sides in. I was sure to bring both side in equally, so the horizontal mid-point was not disturbed.

If I’d needed to bring one side in more than the other, I would have re-measured the midpoint.

Once the major proportions started working, I could move forward and start refining the contour.

Refining the contours requires keeping in mind the principles of oragnic form, so avoid superimposing symbolic and generalized shapes of the optical realisty. I am always looking for tapering spiral wedges of form. Nothing is parallel.

Finally I was ready to start some shading, at least blocking in the shadow side of the figure. Blocking in the true shadow - the form not hit by direct rays of light from the primary lightsource - is a good way to clarify light from shadow, and keep all future value decisions in context. Everything in the light will be high value, everything in shadow will be low value, and the two will not be confused.

This stage makes the figure look very graphical and flat, and next week I start modeling I will be “turning the form” by shading from shadow up to light, which will make the form round again.

NEW CLASS: 
Due to high demand I am now offering an additional Figure Drawing Class this fall:

6 Saturdays 12pm-4pm 
September 17, 24
October 1, 8, 15, 22

Sign up for Figure Drawing Fall 2011 here

Study of Wendell, 18”x24”, charcoal, graphite, and white chalk on gray paper

This pose was for the Monday non-instructed Model Session. The sessions will pause for the summer starting in late June, but will be starting back up in September, please join us!

Also, we just had ONE spot become available in my Drawing Fundamentals class, 6 Sundays beginning May 15. The spots tend to fill quickly and I won’t be offering this class again until 2012, so sign up now:

Drawing Fundamentals class details and registration info are here