Welcome to class, I am so thrilled you are here!

Soulful Eyes is a mixed media portrait class in what has become a strong signature style in my work, using abstract elements and bold colour.

I absolutely LOVE to create portraits and never grow tired of meeting the expressive, powerful goddesses and warriors who show up on my canvas!

I have been asked many times to put together a class demonstrating a portrait in my style. I work instinctively and often don't use a reference, but this gorgeous girl was such an inspiring image, I knew right away I wanted to create a piece of art inspired by her.

At the time this was created I had been facing some challenges and big changes in my business life and the emotion that I felt from those marvellous expressive eyes really spoke to me.

Some say she looks a little sad in my piece, but what I see most is are deep wells of emotion in her gaze, feeling ALL the feelings and experiencing powerful, strong emotions. She holds so much. I believe that you will see and reflect in your own art what you need to see in her gaze, depending on your own current or past experiences.

Faces are a tricky subject - a viewer cannot tell if you reference a tree in your art and miss off a few branches, but create a face and even a child can tell if there is an eye missing! I don't use grids or tracing methods when referencing an image, as I prefer my finished work to be inspired by, rather than replicated as a result.

You may not love your first attempt, especially if portraits are new to you, but you will learn and discover, which is really what a class is all about, right?

I hope that following my approach in this class you will create your own interpretation of a portrait.

Please do reach out, connect and share your work - you can leave comments and questions in the classroom .

Here are the supplies that I used, but as ever, I encourage you to be adventurous and to use what you have!

I worked on a 12” x 12” canvas with a deep edge ( but any canvas panel or standard canvas of your personal size and preference is fine-you could also work on mixed media paper or thick watercolour paper, but I would recommend priming with gesso first)

White gesso to prime substrate-and an old brush to apply it!

Water soluble crayon or pencil to sketch out image ( optional - I just prefer it to graphite which can muddy the paint on top) I used Derwent Aquatone in red.

¾” flat brush - unbranded, I don’t use high-end brushes very often as I am quite hard on them!

Acrylic paint : Indian Yellow, Cadmium Red, Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White

½” flat paintbrush, unbranded.

Small pointed brush.

Unbranded Palette knife ( plastic sets are usually very reasonably priced, but if you can’t get them then half of an old credit card will also work)

Sponge ( or rag )

Bubble wrap

Oil pastels in similar colours to your acrylics - I used Sennelier violet blue, and generic brand in red, orange, yellow, turquoise - black and white are also useful .

If you wish to seal your finished piece, you will also need a suitable varnish - gloss or matt is up to you. I like use Liquitex satin to seal .