I'm Taking a Portrait Class by Connie Reily

So I decided a long time ago that "real" artist can do true portrait work and that I will never consider myself a "real" artist until I can do beautiful portraits of people. My New Year's resolution was to take a Portrait Class, so I signed up for one that I had heard was wonderful.


It is at the John's Creek Art Center and taught by Connie Reilly.

http://http//www.conniereilly.com/Connie_Lynn_Reilly_Portraits_%26_Paintings/WELCOME.html

Well, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. If you know me well, you know I don't like following rules. Matter of fact, I teach my art students, "there are no rules". Not the case when doing portrait work according to the world of Mrs. Connie.


My poor brain is having to learn a whole new way of thinking. It's all about measuring every little detail with this strange little object called a "Divider"and shading with about 10 different pencils. Heck, I thought, a pencil was a pencil. Oh no, there are B2's, F's, H4's and even HB's and they all have their on purpose. I won't even go into this thing called "sight sizing" that almost made me cry and throw up last Monday.


With all this said, I've met a lovely and talented group of ladies and gained alot of respect for people who do portrait work. I've decided that it's going to take me years to become a good portrait artist but in the mean time I've been practicing on family. Let me know what you think.


I'm 5 weeks into the class and this is my first try at a portrait of my mother. I would love your feed back. My family is getting sick of seeing themselves drawn so send me good photos so I can practice on your or your loved ones. The photos need to have good lights and darks. I'm learning it's all about the contrasts of lights and darks. By the way, Mrs. Connie, does take commissions and her work is to die for.