Students of my pastel and watercolor classes joined me for a fun inspirational field trip to the St. Louis Art Museum's Degas' Exhibit! Edgar Degas, "The Millinery Shop", 1879, oil on canvas Edgar Degas, "Little Milliners", 1882, Pastel on paper Luxurious lunch at the museum's beautiful Panorama Restaurant. We couldn't help but be inspired for our next painting project. We were all so taken by the amazing exhibit...Shall we choose a still-life for our next painting?... Better yet, I asked, how about painting a still-life with HATS inspired by Degas? So, yes, "The Millinery Shop" by Degas, was chosen for the inspirational painting and Degas was to be our mentor....Being influenced by the best! We brought in our hats, hatstands, scarves and ribbons to make our still life display. I asked the class to choose a part of the display that was pleasing to them to start their paintings, isolating a few favorite hats for their composition. Look at the great progress! <a> <a> <a> <a> <a> Continued great progress!
Stay tuned for the final pastel and watercolor paintings. Thank you to the St. Louis Art Museum for bringing together this exceptional exhibit, "Degas, Impressionism & the Paris Millinery Trade". Our class with their beautiful drawings! Amazing work and this was their first attempt drawing on toned paper! Angie expressed how drawing on toned paper, started to all make sense to her once she put in the highlights with the white charcoal pencil. I love those 'aha' moments! The final details and correction of values make all the difference. Fantastic Gerry! Sarah's elegant figure drawing of a very challenging subject! Here is the lovely portrait Andrea drew of her daughter. This class was a gift from Andea's husband, so she could have her very own designated time for art! Oh what a lovely pose! The dedication of the class shows in their successful portraits. For more information on my art classes, in the St. Louis area, sign up for my newsletter to be the first to know! This was my Portrait Drawing Demonstration for the class "Drawing on Toned Paper" held at OA Gallery. I was using black charcoal for the darker values and white charcoal for the highlights . Learning to draw on toned paper using black and white charcoal, helps greatly in understanding value tones. Here are some of the steps in drawing a portrait on toned paper. The drawing is started lightly in the beginning. When the likeness of the eyes are getting closer then I'll start to establish more of the darks. Until then I keep the pencil marks light in case I need to erase. Here the dark values are established in the drawing. In a portrait the eyes will always have your darkest dark in the pupil of the eye and at the lashline. Using toned paper instead of white paper helps you to obtain your darkest darks and lightest lights while letting the paper be your midtone value. A white charcoal pencil is used to show the highlights. This is the stage where values are checked and corrected. They help to show the three dimensional quality in the drawing. The portrait demo is finished and ready to be put in a frame! The portrait is complete! It can be viewed at the Galleries at Heartland in Kirkwood, MO. Working on toned paper is a beautiful and classical way to draw, which dates back to the Renaissance. Look at these beautiful drawings! Everyone did a fantastic job! What a great class!
Would you like information about my art classes? Check out my classes here on my website. Or Sign up for my newsletter for new classes as they are scheduled. Class is Full New Drawing Class 2017 with Marie Donato "Learning to Draw on Toned Paper" Marie Donato is offering a Spring 2017 Drawing Class to be held at the beautiful OA Gallery in charming downtown Kirkwood! Set aside relaxing time for yourself and be inspired in the art-filled OA Gallery, located directly across from the Kirkwood train station. Drawing Spring Session Fridays March 10 - April 14 10:00 am -12:00 noon 6-week session (If needed - snow/day April 21) Current Class Information Here Here are recent drawing videos that were taken as I was finishing up the portrait details. I wanted to share with you my love for drawing today.
These drawings were completed on Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper. To finish these portraits I used General's charcoal and graphite pencil along with powdered graphite. The most exhilarating part of my job as an artist is getting those beautiful eyes looking back at me! I truly love being a portrait artist and am very thankful to God that I am able to be an artist. If you have any questions just let me know. Thank you for watching. Have a great day! Four Reasons I love teaching adult art and painting classes. 1) I love seeing those smiles! When a student finishes a painting, I love seeing the smiles that show their sense of accomplishment from completing a beautiful work of art that they did! 2) Watching a student's progress is amazing! When a beginning student comes to my class with no art experience, I always tell them "Don't worry that's fine. Just the fact that you are here in class shows me you have the desire to be an artist and that's all I need to know." My job, then is to give them the "tools" necessary to progress step-by-step as an artist. I totally love that "aha" moment! One student explained it this way, "Marie, you gave me the recipe, now I can do it!" So please don't hesitate if you are a beginner. I would love to have you join us. 3) I teach in order to share what I've learned over the years. Being able to share with my students is such a privelege. My goal is to meet each art student at their own level and bring them up to the next. My students range from an absolute beginner up to a more experienced intermediate level. 4) I love meeting new artists and new friends! The first day of class is always so fun for me when I can meet new art students. My students help me grow as an artist and instructor. They are the greatest! Marie Donato's Adult Art Classes are available in Pastel, Watercolor and Drawing. Click here to enroll in the next art class. Beginners welcome! Lovely Ballerinas in their "Derby Regalia"! It was a very fun, Night at the Derby! The Missouri Ballet Theatre Fundraiser was held last week celebrating the Kentucky Derby. Dining, horse racing, and hats galore filled the evening's glamour to support the Missouri Ballet Theatre. A very special part of the evening was the Silent Auction offering exciting, fun prizes. One of the prizes, donated by Marie Donato Fine Art, was a personal 16 x 20 inch charcoal & graphite portrait of someone's favorite ballerina! Here is the sample portrait that was on display. The portrait was won by Missouri Ballet Theatre's director, Melissa and Greg Forck! Congratulations Melissa and Greg! Having lots of fun! Champagne for all! It was a wonderful evening! Hats Galore! Thank you Missouri Ballet Theatre!
"Alfayiz", is a beautiful Thoroughbred, with a racehorse heritage. His name means "Champion". Recently I was commissioned to paint the portrait of this handsome horse. It was my pleasure. Here is his story, shared by his owner: "To say that Alfayiz is the love of my life is almost an understatement. It was truly a blessing from God that we found each other and I am so grateful to have him in my life every single day. When I first met Alfayiz, he had fallen on some rough times. His owner had lost his job and his home, could not afford to feed the ten horses that he had, but also could not find new homes for them. This lead to all of the horses, including Alfayiz, being fed very poorly for about two years. Although from first glance he was not a lot to look at (skin and bones, matted mane down past his shoulder, dreaded tail) I fell in love with his spirit and personality immediately. Although he did not have the strength to trot or canter well, he gave it all he had and I knew that we would make a wonderful pair. Just a few days later, he came with me on my new journey from Illinois to Kentucky and we began our path to recovery. It took about a year of walking the beautiful rolling bluegrass hills and then another six months of trotting but we finally made it to a nice healthy figure and have never looked back. A few years after we came to Kentucky, I learned that he had actually been sold at Keeneland as a yearling to a sheik for $500,000. Since that time, we have done just about everything together. The property that we are on is 75 acres and we are blessed to have 300 acres behind the property to ride on. Our favorite things to do are hacking around in a big field, playing in streams, and the occasional cross country course. He is truly my best friend and I do not know what I would do without him. Thank you so much, Marie, for the beautiful pastel portrait painting of him, it is beyond stunning and I will cherish it for many years to come!" Meet "Gustapher"! When I work on a portrait commission, there is this funny connection thing that starts to happen, especially after I get the likeness in the eyes and they are staring back at me. I start to feel a connection with the person, or in this case very cute kitty! As I'm painting I find myself wanting to learn more about them and their personality. So I thought it would be fun to find out more about Gustapher and share his fun facts with you. Gustapher was adopted from a shelter as a kitten. He had to be such an adorable puff of orange fur! His mom/owner says he is an only 'fur' child. Gustapher was named after the chubby mouse in the Disney movie Cinderella. So of course his nickname, as in the movie, is Gus-Gus. He likes to sleep under the covers at nightime and then on top of shoes in the daytime. Gus is a professional mouse hunter as well as red-dot hunter! Oh yes his best friend is a black Lab named Remmy. What a pair they must make! Lastly he loves going to the vet--everyone spoils him there. A favorite color of his mom's is Tiffany Blue which became the inspiration for the background! So what better choice to give Gus than a lush blue background that complements his beautiful orange coloring so nicely and makes his cute freckles pop...(three on his pink nose)! You may know me more as a figurative artist that primarily paints portraits of people; which I love to do. Capturing a likeness looking back at me is thrilling and a challenge! The same enjoyment comes with painting the beauty of animals; horse, dog or cat portraits always make me smile! Painting this pastel cat portrait was no exception. Thank you Gustapher! |
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