Ted nuttall watercolor artist search

Ted Nuttall - Painting the Figure from Photographs
August 14-17, 2018 - 4 Days, Advanced Beginner to Advanced

Ted Nuttall graduated from Colorado Institute of Art as a figurative artist whose painting was born out of his observation of people. He had been a fascinated spectator of human behavior and naturally seek the unique character in everyone he encounters. He looks for a gesture or expression combined with the play of light and shadow, a contemplative smile, hands cradling a book or carefully tying a shoe and there reveals a story. To him, that is a reward. Ted's paintings are his attempt to compose and thoughtfully record these moments, these stories.

Ted is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, Watercolor West, Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, and enjoys Master Status with the Transparent Watercolor Society of America. His paintings continue to win awards in juried exhibitions throughout the country and his work has been featured in numerous national and international art publications. Most recently, he was a featured artist in both the 2014 Russian publication "Masters of Watercolor" and in the 2013 French publication “Pratique Des Arts.” Ted was the featured cover artist for the February 2014 issue of Watercolor Artist magazine. Ted’s work has been published in North Light Books', Splash 8 and Splash 10, and his painting "Whispering Smith" appeared on the cover of Splash 12.

Although painting a person in watercolor may seem daunting, Ted Nuttall believes that it is every bit as approachable as creating a still life or landscape. In his workshop, Ted will demonstrate the techniques, and instill the confidence to enjoy painting people. Ted will discuss the benefits of photographic reference, as well as how to interpret a photo in order to give life and energy to the subject. In Ted’s daily demonstrations and presentations, he shares his personal approach to painting

Last week Susan and I travelled to the Madeline Island School of Art (MISA) to take a workshop. MISA is located on Madeline Island, the largest and only inhabited island in the Apostle Island chain.  They are in the Wisconsin section of Lake Superior. They are a very fascinating and beautiful destination.

The workshop was with Ted Nuttall who is an amazing watercolour portraitist.  He appears frequently in The Watercolour Magazine.  He has been on the cover 3 times.  He has also won numerous awards in many of the biggest exhibitions including the American Watercolor Society which is the biggest of the big.

This image is very representative of his style.

Sloppy Dots

Ted is definitely an  intuitive painter. He paints very deliberately, with a lot of thought.  He  employs a style of using many light transparent layers to build up the feeling of depth.  He also adds an element of energy and excitement to his paintings by the use of what he calls ‘Sloppy Dots’.  Sloppy dots are really just little blobs of colour. They are fascinating in that up close they appear to be very busy and haphazard but when viewed further back they just blend into the portrait. All you notice is that the portrait is a little more interesting and involving..

You can see an example of this approach in this detail of an eye.

The challenge of putting this approach into practice is that it’s hard to give a recipe on how to use it.  It’s hard to say ‘just do this or that’ when it’s such an intuitive process.

Here is another example of sloppy dots creating hair.

What I found during the workshop is that when you just loosen up and give it a try  it’s actually much easier then I would have expected.  At least to do my version of it.

MISA

I went to  MISA last year to take

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When taken with care, photographic references can inform the mood of a portrait and help you capture a model’s emotional interior. 

By Ted Nuttall 

My assertion that good figure and portrait paintings can be accomplished from photographic reference is often met with raised eyebrows by advocates of painting from a live model. While I agree that there can be pitfalls to working from photographs, I like to think my paintings depict a moment of expression and emotion that can most effectively be captured with a camera. Those moments are the essence of my work. 

Have Something to Say 

From the beginning, my approach to painting people has been driven by ideas best expressed by two great American painters, Thomas Aquinas Daly and George Carlson. Among others, these two influenced the way I came to painting, both emotionally and technically. What they each have to say is essential to my work. 

Daly, in his book Painting Nature’s Quiet Places, said: “My deep emotional involvement in my subject matter is the essential ingredient that carries my work. For years, I floundered in a quandary over what to paint until I realized the most rudimentary fact: I should paint what moves me and, if handled with some degree of facility, it should, in turn, move others.” 

Ted Nuttall Biography

A graduate of Colorado Institute of Art, Ted Nuttall is a figurative artist whose painting expression was born out of his observation of people. Ted is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, San Diego Watercolor Society and enjoys Master Signature Status with both the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and Watercolor West.

Ted’s paintings continue to win awards in juried exhibitions throughout the country. His work has been featured in numerous national and international art publications. Most recently, he was a featured artist in both the 2014 Russian publication “Masters of Watercolor” and in the 2013 French publication “Pratique Des Arts”. Ted was the featured cover artist for the February 2014 issue of Watercolor Artist magazine. Ted’s work has been published in North Light Books’, Splash 8 and Splash 10, and his painting “Whispering Smith” appeared on the cover of Splash 12.

Artist’s Statement

For as long as I can remember, I have been a fascinated spectator of human behavior – the quintessential people watcher. I naturally seek the unique character in everyone I encounter. Often, as I observe someone in his or her everyday environment, I am rewarded with a moment when a gesture or expression combine with the play of light and shadow. A contemplative smile, hands cradling a book or carefully tying a shoe, a shadow cast by a pair of wire-rimmed glasses – and there occurs a pivotal