Robert Liberace Workshop

I attended the Robert Liberace 3-day Alla Prima Potrait and Figure painting workshop hosted by the North River Arts Association this past August 27-29th and it is was a great experience.  Rob is very great at what he does which is paint and teach.  He is very patient and encouraging and has the ability to look at your work and know exactly what needs to be addressed and he is very good at expressing his suggestions for your painting.

We had about 20 people in the workshop but Rob did manage to get around to each of us about every hour.  He started each day with a demonstration every morning for about an hour and then we worked on our own paintings.  The first day was drawing from a live model with a single pose.  The second day was painting a full figure and the third day if was full figure if you were not facing the model directly and if you were facing the model, you could do a portrait.  The size of room really didn't allow for everyone to do a portrait so that is why it was setup this way.

The lunch was graciously provided by North River Arts Association each day and we all sat down to lunch together with Rob and his family on one day.  At the end of the workshop Rob sold off all of his demo drawings and painting via a luck-of-the-draw process. On the last night we had a little celebration with Rob and his family across the street at one of the participants home and that was a very nice end to the workshop.

One word about Rob's assistant Gio (Giovanni).  I had the privilege of working next to him for the entire workshop and this is one of the nicest and most helpful people I have every met.  He was Rob's right-hand man for this workshop and was extremely helpful.  He took photos of the entire workshop.  He took photos of all the models from everyone's easel and posted them for us all online so we could review them when we got home.  He and his wife were very nice.

I would highly recommend any of his workshops to anyone without hesitation and if you want to attend some nice workshops, check out North River Arts Association and join if you're in the area at www.northriverarts.org.  Rob's website is:  www.robertliberace.com.  I have his Alla Prima Portrait video and it was worth every penny.  If you take his workshops, you can buy his DVD's minus the $10 shipping charge.

Sebastian Kruger and me at Newbury Fine Arts

Sebastian Kruger and I at "Face To Face" Opening Reception

Sebastian Kruger and I posing in front of his fabulous and humorous "Trust Me I'm a Doctor" painting (94" x 63").  Sebastian is truly a very nice guy and thoroughly enjoyed the opening reception.  He very gratiously posed for all photos and very forthcoming with questions.  This is what being an artist should be all about.  Gratious and willing to share ideas and thoughts and open to the public and fans of their work.

I hope to attend his next workshop whenever that may be.  His wife said they have a few big projects coming up and things will be busy with the Krugers for some time, but hopefully it will not be long before the next Kruger workshop.

Thanks again to Robin and Claire at Newbury Fine Arts.  Please pay them a visit if you are in Boston.  They are located at 29 Newbury Street in Boston.