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The Interpretive Portrait: Capturing the Spirit
Charlotte Wharton
August 20-24, 2012 / $700
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About the Workshop
The spirit, the essence of a subject is an important and prized component of portraiture. Capturing it on canvas takes more than the faithful rendering of facial features. It involves noting characteristic gestures and posture and visually describing the nature of ones being.
Including unique gestures in a portrait helps in the ease of recognition, but it is the essence of the subject that communicates the ‘knowing’ of them; who they really are, their truth. Through keen observation, learning how they see themselves and their desires for the portrait, and your impression of this information can provide a sense of the subject and therefore an attitude that the portrait needs to encompass.
The attitude can define the kind of energy that will ‘flow’ throughout the painting that will best describe the subject. For example, a portrait of a woman who is on the quiet side, pleasant, charming, and femininely dressed might be composed dominantly of curving lines, diffused light, middle range contrasts, muted colors, and soft edges. Likewise, a portrait of a woman who is loud spoken, very active, gruff, and wearing tailored clothing might be composed dominantly of angular lines, strong light and strong contrasts, bold colors and harder edges.
Study will include and go beyond the standard elements of design and the rendering of facial features to cover the interpretation of the inherent energy of shape, linear directives, value patterns, color relationships, edges, and choice of marks. Instructor demonstrations will be provided as well as individual critiques at the easel. A group critique will follow at the end of the workshop. Oil and pastel. All levels welcome.
About the Artist
Many magazines have described Charlotte’s manner of painting, but none more poignantly than the Worcester Quarterly’s 2006 article Souls On Canvas: Portraits By Charlotte Wharton Get Beyond Likeness, “… Her gift of versatility ranges from sought after loosely rendered private portraits to dignified corporate portraits befitting the boardroom ...”
Charlotte, PSA, Copley Master, is also well known for her loose calligraphy executed in her genre paintings and landscapes. Her portraits and non-commissioned works hang in many national and European private and corporate collections. Ms. Wharton has a Bachelor Degree of Fine Arts from Clark University, summa cum laude. She has received advanced studies with the country’s leading portraitists, Aaron Shikler and Everett Raymond Kinstler. Her work has garnered over five dozen awards including The Copley Society of Boston’s Gold Medal Award For Excellence In Portraiture and the Oil Painters of America’s Award For Excellence In Painting in 2004. Selected works have been reproduced in three Rockport Press Art Books: Portrait Inspirations (also on the cover), The Best Of Oil Painting, and The Best Of Pastel in 1997 and highlighted in the Artists Magazine. She has been featured many times on WGMC-TV.
Charlotte was awarded a summer’s study in Dinan, Brittany, France by L’Association les amis de la Grande Vigne in 1996. In addition, she has participated in one-person and juried group exhibits in Italy, France, Russia, the British West Indies and across the United States where she has also taught workshops in portraiture and landscape.
In her workshops, Charlotte encourages and guides each student/artist in developing or furthering their own unique interpretation of nature. In portraiture, students learn to interpret the ‘needs of the portrait’ in order to capture the true essence of the subject. A comprehensive package covering ‘The Language Of Energy In Art’ ©, comprised from discoveries of the Renaissance artists, and The Munsell Color System is given to each student.
