2022 Mattelson Fine Art Portrait Academy Online Class Teaching Schedule

Alla Prima Oil Portrait Painting Mastery Online Art Class-2022

I have developed, what I believe is, a new and exiting way to paint in the Alla Prima style that goes far beyond the typical shoot-from-the hip-approach.

Has the Art World Finally Crapped Out?

Today, The New York Times published an article about a new installation at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum here in New York City.

Paxtonesque

I make it a point, whenever the opportunity would arise, to check out original art by the painters I admire the most: like Bouguereau, Gerome, Monsted, Paxton and DeCamp.

Alla Prima Portrait Painting Demonstration

This past Saturday I did a portrait painting demonstration for my class, alla prima style, to show the students how I paint oil studies of clients.

Marvin Mattelson's Latest Oil Portrait Commission: Fang Fenglei

I recently completed the above portrait painting of Fang Fenglei. It's a great honor to be chosen to paint such an exceptionally successful gentleman.

In the Dark About Black?

Contrary to popular myth, I consider black to be an indispensable and versitile color which I utilize wherever and whenever I deem it most appropriate.

New York Portrait Artist Workshop Demonstration – Day Four

Today I completed my demonstration of Megan. I followed the same procedure as the previous day's demo, but focused on smaller and more subtle nuanced shapes and transitions.

New York Portrait Artist Workshop Demonstration – Day Three

Today, was the beginning of the end, or the phase I refer to as the initial finish later (AKA the refinement layer).

New York Portrait Artist Workshop Demonstration - Day Two

Today I laid in the color in a logical and methodical way and even had time at the end of the day to start the edge handling.

New York Portrait Artist Workshop Demonstration - Day One

I spent the day explaining and demonstrating my procedure for the wash-in, the painting's foundation layer (see above). My mantra: work large to small. Below you can see the steps I took:

Why The Negative Reaction To Painting From Photos?

Artists have worked from photos for over a century and a half so you think the nay-sayers would get tired already and just shut up.

A Royal Fiasco

By now everyone in the universe is familiar with the controversy surrounding the first official portrait of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Looking for Art in All the Wrong Places.

The art that’s most interesting to me is when the artist has something real to say. It doesn’t need a significant concept.

New York City Portrait Artist Workshop-Demo Day #4: Grand Finale

On the final day the plan was to modify color nuance, intensity, edges in order to further develop the solidity the forms:

New York City Portrait Artist Workshop-Demo Day #3

Today was my next to last demo for the August Portrait Artist Workshop at the School of Visual Arts.

New York City Portrait Artist Workshop-Demo Day #2

Today, August 9, I laid in the color over my wash-in underpainting during the second demo for my New York City Portrait Artist Workshop.I love brushing in the color.

New York City Portrait Artist Workshop-Demo Day #1

My New York City Portrait Artist Workshop at the School of Visual Arts began on Monday August 6. Below is the progression of my underpainting on the first day of my demo.

Is Portrait Painting More Difficult Than Brain Surgery?

I always tell my students, “Portrait painting isn’t brain surgery, it’s much more difficult.” Not that learning to be a portrait artist isn’t a terribly daunting task.

Atlanta Portrait Artist Workshop – Day 11 Demo

Today I completed my demo painting. Not as refined as my portrait commissions, but a very good representation of my process, none-the less.

Atlanta Portrait Artist Workshop - Day 9 Demo

Today I continued to develop my demonstration painting. I started out by oiling out the painting. First I scumbled over the skin and then began to restate my flesh colors.

Atlanta Portrait Artist Workshop – Day 4 & 7 Demos

My demo painting is moving along very nicely. Here is the progression as I built up color over the umber wash-in under-painting during my initial color lay-in, this past Thursday.

There and Back: It's Uphill Both Ways!

Today I experienced an epiphany. Simplicity is a function of clarity. The perfect way to camouflage not knowing, is to obfuscate your explanation.

Atlanta Portrait Artist Workshop - Day 1 Demo

Today I started a two-week portrait artist workshop at Binders Art and Framing in Atlanta. This is the underpainting phase of my workshop demo–the first time I’ve ever posted one in progress.

The "You Can't Get There From Here" School of Color Mixing

To me a portrait painting is a giant conundrum waiting to be unraveled. My approach to coming up with the best answer is hierarchical, going from large to small.

The Law of Gravity is Not a Rule, True Story!

When analyzing the work of great master painters, like Anthony Van Dyke (above), we can see that breaking the so-called rules had the opposite effect.

This Rule Pushed Me Over the Edge

Repetition is the evil step child of rules. The technical term for this is boring. The point of being an artist is creativity. The death knell tolls when artists mimic themselves, consciously or not.

Warm and Cool: The Exciting Game Without Any Logic!

"The most confusing part of painting is mixing color." How many times have you heard that?

Those Who Repeat History are Doomed.

What's the point of creating paintings that look as though they were painted a hundred or more years ago?

Happily Negative? I'm Positive!

Praise may make you feel better, but learning to see mistakes will make you paint better. Only by finding out what doesn’t work, what needs fixing, or what’s out of kilter, can you can hope to improve.

The Sum of the Parts Has Very Little to Do With Money

When the meter is running how is it possible to create great paintings? I'm afraid I can't buy that the best strategy for a long, satisfying and lucrative career is churning out substandard work.

The Essence of Painting, the Shape of Things to Come

The key to true mastery of anything is understanding its essence. So the question is what is the essence of painting?

Breadcrumbs Among the Piles of Paint

I have, over the course of my 40 year career as both a professional artist and educator, come to certain conclusions, many of which I will be sharing during the course of writing this blog.

Put a Fork In It, the Road That Is!

Yogi Berra said, when you come to a fork in the road…take it. Forks are just a folksy way of saying it's time to choose. Life is a series of choices.

Put on Your Thinking Beret (Strategically Speaking!)

When I look at a masterpiece I very rarely concern myself with the technical aspects. I’m much more interested in the thinking process behind the painting.