The portrait will be the departure point for a discussion of simplification and abstraction in pictorial structure for this five-day workshop. As a class we ask how much information is necessary to achieve a “likeness.” Through reducing the visible to its simplest terms, we will attempt to develop accuracy though layering shape into proportional constructions of the head.

Issues of anatomical structure, figure-ground integration, value organization, creation of light will be discussed. Self-portraits, historical portraits, contemporary portraiture, and working from a model will be included. Some painting experience required; oil paint is the preferred medium.

Aaron Michael Thompson is a full-time Professor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design. He is also one of Gamblin Artist Colors Educational Representatives and has given lectures on color at Museums and Institutions of Higher Education for seven years. He received his M.F.A. from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and his B.F.A. from Savannah College of Art and Design. He was recently published in Observational Drawing, and among his most recent awards include the Premier Coup Award from a national juried exhibition, the Nude, at the Wayne Art Center and the Barnes Artist residency in Umbria, Italy.