A Standard for Painting

American Still Life painter Jeff Legg will often tell his art students to just stop and really look at what they are painting and figure out how to paint it.  Jeff emphasizes three things in his art workshops:

1. Basic setup
2. Composition
3. Paint color and quality

These three things are pretty much Jeff’s standard for painting. 

Jeff Legg’s artwork is often described as "masterful, ethereal, and timeless." Every painting is an intimate conversation between artist and viewer. One believes you can reach into the scene and actually touch the objects.

In his art workshops, Jeff spends time demonstrating his approach and techniques. There is a lot to be learned from watching other artists paint. Spending time watching Jeff paint and discuss each step of his work brings a rich learning experience to the student in Jeff’s workshops.

Of his painting, Jeff states, “"My desire is to convey a personal vision through classical methods using the various visual tools and principals, not expressly to make a record, but to re-create the mood or feeling of the person, place or object before me." And he will teach you to do this also.

To get a sense of Jeff’s teaching style and technique, you can watch this video from a previous class Jeff taught at Whidbey Island Fine Art Studio where he demonstrated techniques for still life painting.

Jeff’s work is represented by some of the nation’s most distinguished galleries coast to coast. He is honored as an Oil Painters of America Master painter and has won numerous prizes. We invite you to come to WIFAS and learn from this master painter next month. 

Learning from a Master

Steve Whitney, a northwest landscape artist who also enjoys portraits, figurative work, and still life, recently enrolled in Jeff Legg’s workshop to learn how a master of still life approaches his work. Steve found that the workshop delivered everything he was looking for. 

 

After the workshop, Steve wrote down what he had learned. He was gracious enough to share his list us and now you can read it also.

Tips from Jeff Legg’s still life workshop:

• For chiaroscuro effects, it’s usually best to place your light source just above and slightly in front of the setup, so that the subject is spotlighted.
• If you can’t have natural daylight, use a full spectrum bulb at 5500 K.
• Arrange some objects in half light and some in shadow for drama and mystery.
• Using alkyd medium from first to last promotes quick drying, eliminates fat-over-lean problems, provides a nice luster, and makes oil out unnecessary. For slower drying with the other advantages, use another medium. This applies to all paintings, not just still life.
• The still-life boxes should have a top for adjusting lighting.
• Still life can be thematic or purely formal, with objects chosen solely for reasons of color, shape, size, and texture.
• Block in the still life by massing shapes rather than by drawing their outlines.
• Wherever possible, paint objects using horizontal rather than vertical strokes, as this prevents the formation of paint ridges along their boundaries.
• Smooth grounds accommodate all painting styles from realistic to impressionistic. Jeff prefers smoothly gessoed Masonite (even smoother than Ampersand Gessoboard).
• Tone the ground and let it dry before painting. Jeff likes a combination of raw umber and cobalt blue. Avoid making the tone too uniform.
• Consider composing the still life as a vignette, with the borders of the painting less finished. When using this approach, it is still necessary to pay attention to the shapes of the less finished portions of the painting to assure that they complement the composition.

Steve has this to say about Whidbey Island Fine Art Studio workshops, “The atmosphere was casual and friendly, yet the students were all serious and experienced painters dedicated to the ongoing improvement of their work. I'm looking forward to the Liberace workshop this summer! May all your workshops and classes fill to the brim!”

We hope so too, Steve, and thanks for sharing what you learned with us.