Three-Day Portrait Workshop: From Drawing to Oil Painting with Carl Grauer
Saturday mornings, 9 am – 12 pm
May 23, May 30, and June 6
$150, $135 Members (includes model fee)
This intensive three-day workshop introduces artists to the disciplined yet deeply rewarding process of creating a portrait. At the heart of our approach is the pursuit of excellence, not as perfectionism, but as a commitment to observation, thoughtful execution, and a refined finish.
Day One: Constructing the Portrait in Drawing
We begin with the foundations. Students will learn how to construct the head through proportion, structure, and anatomical understanding rather than the focus on just the features. Emphasis is placed on observation and form. Through guided demonstrations and individual feedback, participants develop a drawing that is structurally sound in plane, value and form and ready to serve as the blueprint for painting.
Day Two: Translating Drawing into Oil
With a strong drawing established, students transition into oil paint. The focus shifts to understanding value relationships, color temperature, and the handling of paint while preserving the integrity of the original construction. Instruction emphasizes how to see the portrait as interconnected planes of light and shadow, and varied temperature of chroma is introduced.
Day Three: Refinement and Resolution
The final day is dedicated to bringing the portrait to completion. Students refine edges, unify tones, and develop surface sensitivity while strengthening likeness and presence. Attention is given to achieving cohesion and ensuring that drawing, value, and color work harmoniously together. The goal is not only a finished portrait, but a deeper understanding of process that artists can carry into their independent practice.
Throughout the workshop, students are guided from dry media into oil painting with confidence, relying on the fundamental skills of structure, observation, and color. By the end of the three days, participants will have gained a clear methodology for approaching future work with rigor and refinement.
Biography
Born: 1975, Wilson, Kansas, USA
Carl Grauer is an artist, a painter, and a teacher. Grauer works within the genres of realism, impressionism, surrealism and narrative art. They have an intense interest in portraiture, the figure, queer history, time, the natural world, ritualism, mortality, and the spiritual realm. Born in rural Kansas, Grauer completed their bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from the University of Kansas and their MFA in Medical Illustration from the University of Michigan. They spent two years in London studying figurative and portrait painting with several studios and garnered success showing work both nationally and internationally, most notably for the Hudson Valley Artists 2025: Movement exhibition at the Samuel Dorsky Museum, and exhibiting with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in London. Grauer has also participated in the Constance Saltonstall Artist Residency, Jentel Artist Residency, and the Blue Mountain Artist Residency. Currently, they are working and living in Poughkeepsie, New York and showing with several galleries nationally including Carrie Haddad in Hudson, New York.
