Notes from Dustin Neece Demo – Sept 20 2016

dustinneeceWe had a fascinating demo in our first meeting of the new session by Dustin Neece. His demo was really an ‘eye opener’ for many of us, particularly with his use of sandpaper! Here are a few takeaways from his talk, as summarized by Bob Evans.

• Be aware of your inner feelings regarding the painting, recognize that it will go through stages and don’t get caught in ‘the dark night of the soul’
• Dustin recommended reading ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007A4SDCG/
• Recognise that the ideal image is in your head
• Don’t get so engrossed in a single feature, always look at the big picture and be prepared to change right up until the final version
• Every picture will evolve
• Use layers
• Take your time, go back and paint at the same spot for days, weeks or years until you have it ‘right’
• Look for inspiration, Dustin trained under Odd Nerdrum, check out some of his paintings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_Nerdrum
https://forumgallery.com/artist/odd-nerdrum/
• Start from the focal point and move outwards
• Block out the major features
• When dry, scrape with spatula and also sand using 80 grit paper to remove some (but not all) of the impasto texture
• Be aware of toxic nature of cadmium based paints when doing this
• Use quinacridone-red instead of cadmium red and hansa yellow (Williamsburg Paints)
• After that, look for the major contrasting colour and then use scumbling technique to cover the major areas of the canvas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaze_(painting_technique)
• Gardening gloves are great for keeping the hands clean!

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