Portrait Drawing and Painting
Marie Le Men

10.30am-4.30pm

For all skill levels, this is an introduction to drawing and painting an expressive portrait from life in a personal style. Through demos and samples, Marie will provide tips and some basic principles of observational drawing to equip participants with some technical knowledge on measuring drawing features, before painting it using glazing and wet-on-wet techniques. The approach first focuses on structuring a head in planes and blocks, secondly on watercolour, exploiting the unique properties of this medium, which is notoriously challenging but offers great practicality, speed and ease of use, as well as an infinity of effects such as translucency, washes and glazes. The course will present the participants with an opportunity to discover the subtle art of portraiture in an accessible and practical way, and to inspire amateurs to pursue this practice on a regular basis through life drawing and sketching their surroundings. Marie will highlight the importance of being selective, avoiding literal interpretation, and researching one’s own aesthetic through choices of colours, patterns, composition, so as to convey our personal idea of the person depicted. The presence of a model and good natural lighting will help achieve lively results.

About The Artist:

Marie Le Men is a self-taught artist with a keen interest in portraiture from life and in-situ sketching of her surroundings. She grew up in France and has lived in Dublin since 2007, where she now works as a freelance visual artist in parallel with a career in linguistics. She currently works with watercolours, ink and gouache. Marie was included in the Zurich Portrait Prize 2023 held at National Gallery of Ireland.