Teaching

From time to time I accept a limited number of private students for individual online tutoring. I teach portrait, figure, and still life oil painting and drawing in the classical realist tradition, based on my years of intensive training and teaching with artist Anthony Ryder. The focus of my work and instruction is to combine graceful, dimensional drawing with jewel-like light and color.  I work with each student at his or her level, and have given private instruction to both beginners and professional artists.  Students may choose a particular focus such as fundamentals of drawing, fundamentals of color, or general critiques and guidance.  All students will be asked to provide good-quality digital images of their work for critique. 
Please contact me if you are interested.

Below are some of the main principles and techniques that I use and teach.  Depending on the individual student, these are taught partly through lessons and assigned exercises, and also organically as I evaluate the work and provide guidance through the process of making a drawing or painting.  


Drawing Topics: figure, portrait and still life drawing; materials; master copies; beginning with a basic envelope; blocking in the figure; principles of organic geometry; gesture and movement; the core figure; anatomical landmarks; structures, configurations and pathways of form; contour drawing; light and shade; sculpting the form with pencil; drawing on toned paper with graphite and pastel pencils; composition; thumbnail sketches; value studies.


Color and Painting Topics: color theory; color mixing in oil; poster studies; color field effects; still life, portrait and figure painting; pigments, brushes, mediums, supports and other materials; composition; drawing options: drawing with a brush, drawing on canvas with charcoal and inking in, transferring a preparatory drawing to canvas; the color wash; form painting; form painting on toned canvas; capturing subtle effects of light and vision.


Anna's Bio:

Anna Wakitsch received her B.A. in Art Theory and Practice (Painting Concentration) from Northwestern University in 2001. In 2004, she began her study of painting and drawing with artist Anthony Ryder, and in 2006 moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she began working as Mr. Ryder’s teaching assistant at Andreeva Portrait Academy. She then taught as his assistant instructor in painting and drawing at The Ryder Studio from its opening in 2007 until she returned to the Chicago area in 2011. While in Santa Fe, Anna also studied anatomy with Geoffrey Laurence, and painting and drawing with Kevin Gorges.  She has taught private lessons and workshops in Santa Fe, Dallas, and Chicago.  Her work is collected internationally and has been published in the magazines American Artist Drawing (Spring 2010) and American Art Collector (October 2008), in articles about The Ryder Studio.  Anna has participated in group shows in New York state, Santa Fe, and the Chicago area, and currently exhibits at Haynes Galleries in Thomaston, Maine and Nashville, Tennessee.