The Lester Prize: Verdaccio with Melissa Clements

Join guest artists for workshops hosted for the Lester Prize Youth Awards, as we encourage the creative talents of young and aspiring artists.

Meet some of WA’s leading contemporary portrait artists and discover innovative ideas and techniques to develop your artistic growth. Explore the theme of identity, creativity and family through portraiture by visiting the Lester Prize exhibition and taking part in a workshop. 

Workshops are suitable for a class of up to 32 students. All resources will be provided as part of workshop. 

Verdaccio with Melissa Clements: Introduction to Renaissance Style Underpainting Techniques

Verdaccio is an underpainting technique that sits beneath the layers of many Renaissance artworks. It was utilised in making the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel and oil paintings of the Madonna and Christ. By mixing black, white, and yellow ochre, the artist creates a green monochrome underpainting. Onto this, they glaze layers of flesh tones, allowing the portrait to glow with a vibrant colour and translucency.

In this workshop, The Lester Prize alumnus and artist Melissa Clements will walk students through the historical background of Verdaccio in the context of the Italian Renaissance, guiding through the process of creating the preliminary layers required to make a lifelike oil paint portrait.

Students will also have the opportunity to engage with The Lester Prize Youth Awards Exhibition, allowing them to view and discuss a diverse range of Portraits produced by students from across Australia.

Student Experience:

Students will:

• Learn colour theory and colour mixing techniques to achieve a realistic portrait.
• Utilise painting tools and materials to produce a portrait.
• Engage with a range of techniques, representations, contexts, and subjects through Portraiture.

Skills Development: 

This workshop links to the following strands of the Western Australian Curriculum: 

Visual Arts

Year 7

• Techniques and processes to support representation of ideas in their art-making (ACAVAM119; ACAVAM121)
• Application of techniques and processes suited to 2D and/or 3D artwork (ACAVAM121)
• Key features identified in the organisation of a composition (ACAVAR123)
• Key features identified in artwork belonging to a given artist, movement, time or place (ACAVAR124)

Year 8

• Key features considered when constructing a composition (ACAVAR123)
• Key features recognised in artwork belonging to selected artists, movement, times or places (ACAVAR124)
• Processes to develop and produce artwork (ACAVAM121)

Year 9

• Visual art language (visual art elements and principles of design) used in the development of artwork (ACAVAM125)
• Recognition and use of visual art conventions (e.g. examining the representation of the human form in cultural contexts)  (ACAVAM125; ACAVAM128)
• Identification of representations in artwork within a given context  (ACAVAR130)

Year 10

• Visual art language (visual art elements and principles of design) used in the development of artwork (ACAVAM125)