About the Instructor — Luc Boivin:

Luc Boivin is a self-taught painter-illustrator. He’s been drawing since a very young age, inspired by his grand mother’s oil paintings. His curiosity allowed him to progress rapidly in numerous mediums.

In search of spontaneity, he took his first steps in watercolor in 2015. Quickly seduced by this medium which offers immense possibilities, his progress is rapid. In 2016 the magazine Leisure Painter in UK publishes an article about one of his paintings.

In 2020, he’s invited to exhibit a painting at the international exhibition Fabriano in Aquarello in Italy, in the Canadian pavilion.

It’s his relentless hope of seeing his subjects come to life on paper or on canvas that drives him. When he approaches the portrait, his main objective is to translate the emotion of the gaze while maintaining spontaneity through the play of shadows and light without losing himself in the fine details that characterizes photorealism. His creative process goes through visualization, exploration and experimentation without limits or guidelines regardless of the medium or technique used.

Because of his enthusiasm for this medium, his determination and his desire to share his passion, he regularly presents demonstrations and workshops of his technique.

You can see more of his work at www.LucBoivin.art

About the Workshop:

This workshop will show you how to paint people in watercolor with bright and vibrant colors while saving the white of the paper and focussing on key essential elements without getting lost in every little details. Its all about trying to keep things as simple as possible while working in a way to maximise spontaneity with a touch of looseness and making sure to convey movement and emotion.

There will be a demonstration and discussion to explain my approach which will be the same used by the participants. All questions will be answered during that period.

All participants will be painting from the same reference photo used in the demonstration and detailed explanation will be given for each stages of the painting.

Cost
$50 for TRA Members, $65 for Non-Members, if paid by cash or check. If paid online, a convenience change has been added to the price. If you are paying by cash or check, please mail your check to TRA and email Judy Milsaps.

TRA's Cancellation Policy

Supply List:

Luc will send an image prior to the workshop for us to paint and he will use a different image for the demo.

· Subject already drawn onto watercolor paper. Outlines should not be too dark. Its Ok if the lines show thru the painting but recommend working with a 2H pencil or harder.

· I will be sharing a high-resolution photo of the subject that I will be using during my demo as well as the workshop. I will share shortly. Have not yet made my choice, not sure if it will be from head to toe or cut at the knees.

· The size of paper should be around 12’’ x 16’’ no smaller but preferably closer to 20’’ high. This is important since we do not want our subject to be too small and then get caught up in the little details. Again, I will confirm this in my instructions to participants when I submit the reference photo.

· Paper choice and quality is really up to the participants. It can either be 100% cotton or cellulose paper. I will be working with 100% cotton cold pressed 140 lb paper from Arches or Fabriano. I do not recommend a paper lighter than 140 lb.

· As for colors, the ones I find important to share are the ones I use for skin tones. I always work with the following colors:

Cadmium red
Cadmium orange
Alizarin Crimson
Cobalt blue
Paynes grey

· With these colors, I can do just about any type of skin tones. I understand that there are many recipes out there to get skin tones in a painting, but these work for me. Depending on the colors of my subject, lighting, sun, etc, I might add to this combination some pink or yellow. If participants do not have these exact colors, not a big problem…no need to run out to the store to purchase them, they can work with similar colors from their actual color pallet. For colors other than the skin tones, I see no benefit in trying to have an exact color match as the reference photo. Participants use whatever colors they prefer for their subject…as long as values are respected.

· As for brushes, this is very very personal. I work with brushes with Kolinsky hair that hold great amount of water but still able to work small areas…I do use some small brushes but only when I want to add some key details at the way end of my painting. There are some good synthetic brushes out there that work well and are much less expensive.