Cecily Brown Resource

​(ignore the date this is solely a video, when you purchase this video I will share with you straight away)

​This recorded course, just over an hour long, is inspired by the contemporary painter Cecily Brown and looks at the pull between representation and abstraction. I'll talk you through how to draw from the references that mean something to you and how to deconstruct them through paint. It's one video split into three sections, so you can pause, rewatch, and take each stage at your own pace.

​Section 1: Drawing
We start with your personal references and fluid ink work. I'll talk through how to choose a reference that matters to you, then demonstrate sketching from it in ink, looking for the structural skeleton beneath the subject rather than its surface likeness. Along the way I'll share tips on loosening your hand, plus a few questions to sit with as you sketch: What first drew you to this image? What are you tempted to include that you could leave out?

​Section 2: The Painterly Sketch
This section moves into colour. I'll walk through translating your ink sketches into painting sketches, and talk about Cecily Brown's palette: how she builds it, and how you might adapt it for your own reference. I'll demonstrate building block shapes and tonal depth through colour, with advice on mixing and layering as we go.

​Section 3: Painterly Gesture
In the final section I'll show you how to work with oils, loosening brushwork and letting go of rigid figuration. I'll demonstrate gestural mark-making and talk about Brown's use of movement and atmosphere as a way to think about the mood and energy in your own painting.

​By the end you'll have moved through the whole process, from your own reference to a looser, more gestural abstraction, with something you can come back to whenever you want to push a piece further.