By Julia Orientale
Volume 69, Issue I

Senior Daniel Deng is back at it again. Over the summer, he participated in a week-long intensive portraiture workshop led by portrait painter Costa Vavagiakis at the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan. In the class Deng worked from live models and learned about the proper procedure of portrait painting:

employing a style that is immediate to alla prima and the traditional indirect painting method. Vavagiakis taught Deng important skills any artist should have: how to set up a pallet, choose brushes, use mediums, and care for equipment. During breaks, Deng appreciated discussions about the styles of different masters such as Rembrandt and Sargent. Although the program only lasted a week, it left him with important knowledge about painting. He emphasized how useful learning the oiling out technique (the application of oil and thinner to create a wet surface for dried painting) became. Deng summed up his experience by noting his time spent was simply too short.