Progression of a Portrait

I finished "Mom's" portrait in February of this year and I have to say it is so much easier to paint someone you know really well.

Mom has Parkinson's disease and typical with that disease is the blank stare. Even though she still manages now and then to crack a sarcastic joke, she is really becoming less and less able to communicate. In this portrait I wanted to capture the reality of her situation. I guess my inspiration was Whistler's Mother, Arrangement in Grey and Black. Mine however is titled "I did the best I could." Meant to be a message to those who have selfishly left their parents to fend for themselves in their dark days. It is agony to see your Mother in a state of helplessness and vulnerability. I do the best I can and see her often and of course pay for her care but it really takes a village and we all need as much help as possible to care for our elderly. It is a gift to do service for others even when they were not saints. If we all just "... did the best we could."

Kline Academy Releases Portrait Painting DVD

We are SUPER EXCITED about our first in a series of instructional DVD's that illustrate the excellent teaching offered at Kline Academy.

Kline says it best: "I designed this program because I had a student (one) drop out due to frustration. She just couldn't "get it." My ego does not allow for defeat. So I stayed up nights trying to develop a system that would be understanding to any personality with any background, skill, whatever and came up with this system. And guess what? It really, really works! I actually tested the raw video on my students. I made them watch for 30 minutes then go back into the studio and paint and WOW! We were all amazed at their progress.

I am not claiming that just by watching the DVD you will become a great portrait artist. What I am claiming is that you will be better than you were."

This four hour DVD is a live demonstration filmed on location at the Kline Academy of Fine Art. Cheryl Kline will take you step by step in her unique process of painting portraits from a photograph. There are so many lessons in this DVD you will want to watch it again and again!

Secrets Revealed! This DVD will teach you how to:

• Find facial proportions
• Set your composition
• Draw your model on the canvas
• Block in the basic shapes
• Define the shadow patterns
• Mix beautiful skin tones
• Refine edges
• Painting Hair
• Painting Drapery
• Finishing touches
• and much more....

Regardless of skill level, this instructional DVD wil enable the artist to approach their next portrait project with a step by step system which will bring more success to the development of their painting techniques and practice.

"Artists of all abilities will definitely learn something from watching this. Throughout the demo Cheryl inserts gems of information that might not be gained from many hours of practical classes. She is a natural teacher and gifted artist who gererously shares her experience and skill in this demo." Barbara Rae, Professional Artist, Royal Academician, London

"I just finished watching Cheryl Kline’s video “Painting Portraits from Photographs & Finishing with the live Model.” It is so compelling. From beginning to end, the video shows the step by step method of painting from the palette, mixing the paint, drawing the initial structure, placement of the different values and then finally finishing it by looking at the live model. One of the most valuable parts of the video is to see how she uses a limited palette to produce so many colors and how to apply those colors. It is also about really seeing. Any novice or experienced painter could learn so much from this video." Judith Corona

Professional Artist, Adjunct Professor of Art, Otis College of Art + Design, UCLA Extension, Los Angeles

To Order: Call Kline Academy at (310)927-2436

$99.00