Service Description

Date & Time: Friday, October 3, 2025, 6:00 - 8:00 pm (Demo Night) Saturday, October 4, 2025, 10:00 - 4:00 pm Sunday, October 5, 2025 10:00 - 4:00 pm Friday Evening Demo + Two-Day Workshop with Live Model Location: 7160 Fisher St SE, Calgary. (Swinton's Art Supplies) Instructor: Alyssa Skilnick Level: Some experience to Advanced Mediums: Oil or Acrylic Join artist and instructor Alyssa Skilnick for an exciting 3-day portrait painting workshop designed to elevate your understanding of structure, light, and the emotional impact of the painted face. This intensive course offers a mix of live demos, hands-on painting, and personalized critiques—ideal for intermediate painters looking to deepen their skills in realism and expression. Alyssa will kick things off with a live model demonstration focusing on foundational techniques, including simplified anatomy, head planes, and lighting concepts. Watch her mark key planes with a marker on a printout, demonstrate sphere lighting (inspired by Stephen Bauman), and discuss how colour temperature affects shadow and halftone areas. A live Q&A will follow, giving insight into her design choices in portraiture. Students will paint from a live model as Alyssa guides them through: • Structured block-ins of facial features and head construction • Simplified anatomy for approachable, believable forms • Light and shadow theory – the fall of light and value relationships • Colour temperature and harmony – working with warms vs. cools • Edge control – playing with sharp and soft transitions for depth • Design thinking – emphasizing the big impression over detail Along the way, Alyssa will encourage painters to: • Sculpt values to turn form while keeping visual unity • Introduce rhythm, energy, and atmospheric quality through edges • Simplify complex areas to avoid overworking and highlight focus Critique & Final Touches: Each student will receive one-on-one feedback on their piece. Alyssa will help refine focal points, discuss finishing strategies, and guide artists toward emotional resonance and refined form in their final portrait.