The Animal Muse: Pet Portraits
Adult (Ages 16+) | This program has been canceled
4 Saturdays, 12:00 - 2:30 pm
From the mysterious beasts in the cave paintings at Lascaux to Rococo lapdogs to today’s ubiquitous cat memes, animals enliven the annals of art history. In this four-week class, students will learn to paint their furry (or feathered) companions with verve and dynamism. Working from sketches, memory, and photographs of their own pets (or other animal friends), students will create a series of quick studies. These studies will be the basis for more fully developed pet portraits. Topics include mixing lively neutrals for fur/feather colors, animal anatomy and skeletal structure, strategies for painting a moving subject, and how to work with the photo reference. Students will also be exposed to many examples of animal images in art history in each class session.
Note: You do not have to be a pet owner or an experienced painter to enroll. Anyone with a desire to paint animals should join!
- Bristle brushes (5 or more)
- a selection of flats and filberts ranging from ¼-inch to 1-inch width (in most brands, these will be numbered size 6 to size 24)
- Oil Paints*
- Cadmium Yellow Light
- Yellow Ochre
- Burnt Umber
- Cadmium Red Light
- Cadmium Red Medium
- Alizarin Crimson
- Ultramarine Blue
- Chromium Oxide Green
- Viridian
- Ivory Black
- Titanium White
- NOTE: You may buy student grade or artist grade paints. There is a cost difference, and for the purposes of this class, the student grade is fine.
- 3 canvases or canvas boards (pre-primed)
- Linseed oil
- Metal palette knife
- Paper/disposable palettes
- Additional supplies:
- Rags/ old towels
- 2 small jars with lids (old jam or pickle jars)
- *NOTE: Anyone who wishes to work in acrylic paint instead of oils is welcome to do so. You can purchase the same colors in acrylic as are listed above. If working in acrylic, you will not need linseed oil. All the other supplies remain the same.
Sharon Lacey
Sharon Lacey is a painter based in Boston, MA. She is from Charleston, SC, and studied in Washington, New York, Oxford and London. Sharon’s art training has primarily focused on traditional techniques and materials, with particular emphasis on the human figure.
Sharon studied Art and English at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where she earned degrees in both Art and English before completing her MFA in painting at New York Academy of Art. She also completed an MA at the University of London, where she studied painting techniques used in medieval manuscripts.
Sharon has taught painting, drawing, and contemporary art in the Studio Art Department at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC.
Sharon has exhibited her work internationally, and closer to home she is a recipient of two Somerville Arts Council artist fellowship grants (2013, 2016) and a grant from the MIT Council for the Arts (2014) for the creation of a series of work based in her manuscript research. Her studio is located in Somerville, MA.