Portrait Painting Week With London Fine Arts 🎨

Last week I attended a 5-day portrait painting course with London Fine Arts, learning classical methods and techniques.

I've actually never had an art lesson in my life, but painting portraits has always been a huge passion of mine. Many people may not know that it was my love of art that led me to become a Scalp Micropigmentation artist.

I thought the week away would be a chance to relax and reset, but I've never been so exhausted in my life! It forced me to learn techniques for constructing a portrait in a way that was the complete opposite of how I'd taught myself.

My paintings have always been highly detailed and almost always copied from a photograph. This, however, was painting from life, and throughout the course we were constantly encouraged to include "less information". The idea is to capture the sitter through light, shadow and carefully observed shapes, rather than every tiny detail.

It was also my first time ever using oil paints—a little different from the cheap acrylic paints I usually buy from Proper Job! 😅

The whole experience was fascinating, and I've come away with a newfound appreciation for portrait artists and portraiture as a whole 🎨