I have been utterly captivated and so deeply moved by the tender connection and love that has found it's way onto my canvases and into my sculptures the past few years. It is the theme I can't seem to move pass, I am not sure I can and I want to share this part of me with you.

From the tenderhearted MotherDaughterLove and SisterLove themed pieces to the emotional portraits or gentle SoulBearers... it is the emotion that has {HELD} me captive and that I'm wanting to share.

I hope you will join me and journey with me as we create and find our tender pieces together, through the imagery and stories buried within us and help them find their way onto our canvases, into our journals and into our clay.

Register Now $95

~ Class SelfPaced and Downloadable

“Love is the whole thing,
We are only pieces”

— Rumi

OBJECTIVE of {Held}Captive

I want to focus a lot on painting and sharing my creative process intuitively as well as how I work with references. How I learnt to understand the face, things I've tried and failed with and how my passion for the emotion emerged over the understanding. After painting 1FaceADay for 2 years running, I realised it wasn't the face I was trying to capture, it was the soul I was after and the story behind each new person that showed up on my canvas.

I would like to share how I'm inspired and how I do research which will lead me back to my canvas.

I want to focus on finding the love, emotion and tenderness in each piece.

Introduction

Understanding different substrates and problem solving with canvas
Testing papers based substrates
DIY Substrates - paperclay canvases and plaster boards
- making your own plaster board journey with a paperclay face
Understanding and choosing brushes
Supplies we will use in this class and talking about Acrylics

Projects - we will do a some drawing projects, listed below to get us comfortable with the face

Drawing

Studying the Masters - Graphite
Self Portrait - Graphite
Charcoal on a canvas substrate
Conte Play
Art of Play - The 5 minute rule
- The 5 Second rule

LET'S PAINT

I want to spend a lot of time painting with you.

Section 1

Portraiture

Finding emotional tenderness in single portraits

Emotional portraits - working from small to BIG
Emotional portrait - working intuitively
Emotional self portraiture - monochromatic
Emotional portrait inspired by a reference, including expressive hand
Bonus - Painting Teeth (adds emotion)
- Adding flowers, expressive hands
- Playing with Neocolors

Projects - 5 portrait projects in this section

Section 2

Tenderness Togetherness

TENDER LOVE

*I am totally in love with the tender bond between women... whether it is be between MothersDaughterLove, SisterLove or FriendshipLove - the connection intrigues me.*
I want to spend a bit of time looking and studying emotive togetherness. Studying various artists work who have captured tender emotion in togetherness.

A MotherDaughterLove Series - looking at painting this connection. Learning from the Madonna, the ultimate MotherLove story to our own MotherLove stories. This is something very dear to my heart and I can't stop painting it.

MotherLove Painting x 2

We will be paining one small Madonna inspired painting and then a larger MotherLove Painting

SisterLove Paintings x1

A SisterLove Painting - I do believe there is a longing in all of us to have beautiful connection with our sisters, whether we have a blood related sister or not. I think there is a longing in all of us for it. I am always looking at ways to capture this story. We will be painting SisterLove Painting on a solid red background painted first.

FriendshipLove Painting x1

A FriendshipLove Painting - As I'm getting older, this is something I am loving and appreciating so much in my own life. The power of soul sister connections. It's a beautiful thing and I want to paint it. This is the biggest painting demo I will do. Working intuitively and BIG, this painting includes 7 friends and I wanted them to be really connected to each other emotively. I hope I achieved that and I loved sharing this with you.

A bonus FriendshipLove painting at the closing page to wrap up the FriendshipLove lessons.

Section 3

PaperClay

Introduction and understanding your clay
Finding emotion in individual figure
Finding emotion with hand gestures and posture
Painting our clay sculptures in a way that completes their stories.

“Yugen - A profound awareness of the universe that triggers feeling too deep and mysterious for words. ”

- Noun {Japanese}

Section 4

LomographY - Instant Photography

Finding tender emotion in your lens.
Finding ways to capture daily tenderness.
Keepsakes

Playing with our instant cameras / cell phones, with instant printers

Projects - to take our cameras with us wherever we go and capture moments in time - finding beautiful ways to see, feel and love your life, one capture at a time