“I’m a fine artist, focusing on figurative and portraiture paintings in oils. I’ve been freelancing since high school, back then in illustration and using a traditional airbrush. I also had an interest in natural history studies and spent time at a biological station in Maine for a summer during high school and another in college.

“In college, I started as a double-major in fine art and zoology. After two years at UMass Amherst, I transferred home to New York and became a full-time art major in my third year. I graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in visual art and a minor in art history.

“After college, spent a year showing my paintings in SoHo, NYC while deciding my next move. Computers were transitioning from DOS to Windows, and I wanted some tech training to add to my professional art toolkit. My parents sold the family home and moved to Tennessee, and I moved to NJ. I spent an awesome year in comic book school at the Joe Kubert School of Graphic Art and Illustration. I then spent two-thirds of another year in a technical college studying digital design before being recruited out to art direct a small marketing firm.

“I've kept up with tech ever since. In the early years of web design, I dove in and got training from programmers. Between my graphic design and web design skills, I found steady work either at in-house magazines and marketing firms or remotely as a freelancer.

“That's the great thing about being in digital art media. When I had my kids, I took my work home now I work in video and audio as well.
Five years ago I fell in love with podcasting and I now run a small marketing firm of my own. I've continued to paint and show over the years, and I now divide my time amongst painting, podcasting, and working remotely part-time for a few digital clients."

See Caroline's full bio here.

Principle 1 - Painting portraits is no different than painting anything else. You're painting the way light reflects off of your subject.

"It's our concept of portraiture that trips us up.

"Principle 2 - Persistence is more important than talent.

"Principle 3 - If did it once, can do it again.

"The course kicks off with an eight-lesson module on confidence to help artists through the main obstacles they encounter. I delve into things like fear of rejection and impostor syndrome. I make recommendations in these lessons for working through these obstacles or pursuing further learning on how to get past them."

"I often see not enough value range fear of color (everything is muddy). A good way to combat this is to be bold in the early stages. Not careless, but mindfully bold; what I like to call 'early ugly'— mess that canvas up
 and get rid of the pristine, perfect, white surface.

"I also recommend students 'push your pigments' in the early stages, especially with regard to undertones. You can then refine as you go.

"Another issue I encounter a lot is 'Tunnel vision." It reminds me of the movie Bird Box with Sandra Bullock. Artists get rolling on a portrait and go way too far before stepping back to objectively assess whether they're still 'on course.' They put on figurative blindfolds and don’t stop for 'nuthin.' Then they are afraid to change course
 to make corrections. They know something is 'off,' but they've invested so much, they tend to squeeze their eyes tight and try to ignore the problem.

"I think deep down we as artists know when we're doing this. A pretty reliable sign is when we get defensive if someone tries to critique us. Yup, time to step waaaaay back and maybe take a nap.

"I teach my students how to assess as they go to stay on track, and how to spot when they're getting off course.

"Maybe I should have named course Bird Box... I think that's already taken."

"I created the course to help more students because I see similar roadblocks so often. You know, going from the 'one -to-one' model to the 'one-to-many' model.

"The course is special because it’s designed by an artist for artists.

Now, I know that other instructional demonstration videos are also created by an artist, but I've specifically designed the course to give you as much instruction as possible during the demo.

"As an artist myself, I’ve been frustrated in the past by demo videos where the instructor is painting real-time and every 10 minutes or so, mumbles some bit of valuable advice.

"This is understandable because the artist is busy painting. That’s a common problem regarding giving information and painting at the same time.

"To combat this problem and give my students more quality content, I did demo and then recorded a voice-over for every video so that if you’re watching, you’re learning. I talk it through all the way.

"This means that some of the videos are sped up a bit to accompany the audio, but you can clearly see what you need to see, and I slow it down where it needs to be real-time.

"I don’t believe you need to watch me paint for 20 hours real time to learn what I’m teaching. I didn’t have the patience to watch myself paint for 20 hours while producing the videos. I don't expect you, to, either.

"Life moves fast. You should be able to get quality instruction
 and understand the concepts in the most efficient delivery possible.

"I also created The Portrait Code to fill in the gaps an artist may have if they didn't go to traditional art school or if they just want a review, or to 'connect the dots between their different art classes later as an adult.

"I created the course after having to go to half a dozen different online classes or sources a few years back to get a comprehensive review of all the various foundational stuff I learned back in college.

"At that time, I was stunned to find that I couldn't find it all in one neat package. I would have had to go and take a bunch of courses at a college or several online classes! I ended up buying several courses and a few demonstrations and making notes about what I liked and didn't like about them.

"I combined all of my conclusions with my professional experience as an online course developer and got to work building The Portrait Code. I also read several books, watched TED Talks, and listened to podcasts on the topic of confidence, and an eight-lesson Module on confidence to kick off the course.

"My goal was to create a thorough course for artists that provides all the foundational stuff in one place and ties it all together with a bow.

"I wanted to make these topics understandable for artists from all backgrounds and experience levels.

"Another aspect of the course I feel makes it special is my very logical approach to explaining the concepts. I put on my scientific explainer hat and added graphics and animations to visually explain what I’m talking about. It gives the course a multi-faceted approach for learners of all types.

"The modules are:

• Confidence module
• Fundamentals of Design
• Armatures of Composition
• Perspective
• Anatomy
• Color theory
• Mixing skin tones
• How to Grid (demonstration)
• Portrait demonstration

"Another aspect of the course that makes it special is that it provides a running swatch palette of the pigments on my brush, instead of just a camera showing me mixing paint.

"This was important to me, as you are going to have to play with the pigments yourself to see how various skin tones are achieved — I don't want you to just watch exactly how much of this or that to mix — if you know the pigments I used, you can combine them and in getting into the paint you'll figure out how to arrive at the skin tones you need.

"I also show the complementary swatches used to darken or dull down each palette, whether it's skin tone, clothing, hair, etc...

"The bottom line is that you'll get all the pigments used for each area in the portrait. You'll also get a skin tones workbook with many additional color combination suggestions with the course.

"My goal is to give you everything I can think of to give you to make learning to paint portraits fun and help you succeed.

"I also created the course to be your cheerleader — You CAN do this."

"Students can message me in the comments section of the dashboard.

"They can also reach me by email, and I’ll probably also have a closed Facebook group where students can communicate with each other and with me.

"I’ll be polling attendees of my free webinar at the end of the week to see
if students want a weekly Zoom critique call
 for six weeks. I need to gauge whether students are willing to put their work up for a group critique. Some people are interested in that, some aren't. But if the interest is there, I'll do it.

"So if you’re interested, hop on one of the free Webinars: Thursday, March 10, Friday, March 11, or Sunday, March 13, and let me know. You can sign up for the webinar at passionatepainteracademy.com."

"You sure can. In fact, painters who are starting out may have an easier time because they are developing their approach and don’t have to unlearn bad habits."

"I do recommend some familiarity with painting, but it's a great course for beginner and intermediate oil painters, and any experienced painters who’ve had difficulty with portraits or want to get into portraiture and are afraid.

"You could take it as an acrylic painter, too, if you wanted. It doesn’t exclude acrylics, but when I give you skin tone “recipes” and mixing advice, these are based on my experience mixing them in oils.

"I think if you wanted to make the jump from painting in acrylics to oils and get into portraiture as well, this is one of the best ways to do so with maximum support and instruction."

"Well, if you’re already an experienced portrait painter, you may not need this course. But, it depends; it's a great course, even for experienced artists, if you're struggling with a particular area and want a review, additional instruction, or to work through some of your confidence blocks around portraiture.

"Other than excluding portrait artists already satisfied with their work, it has something for every painter who wants to paint portraits. And, the first eight modules will benefit painters of any subject.

"The exception is that I don’t cover Plein air. I mention that because it is a specific pursuit done outdoors, and that is not covered here.

"If you are a watercolor artist but have not painted in acrylics or oils, this course will still be of great value, but you’ll need to switch your brain from the watercolor approach to the more additive approach of oils. Whether you want to make that 'leap' before taking on a course like this or whether you feel this course will help you leap is up to you.

"I believe the course would help a watercolor painter transition over to oils, but I might be biased."

"The course materials span several hours, but the lessons are intentionally broken into small bites for easy consumption.
 The longest video is under 30 minutes, and most are in the 5-10 minute range.

"It’s made to be able to jump in for a quick bite whenever you have time, and I ordered the modules to build on each other, though you can go through them in any order you want."

"It’s not, actually, as far as a masterclass of this depth goes.
 I wanted it to be accessible for people who are familiar with buying online painting demonstration videos, so it’s only $337 if you buy it in one payment.

"There’s also an option to buy it over four payments of $99.25 each.

"And, anyone on my email list before 4:00 p.m. eastern time on March 10, 2022 will get a coupon code for $50 off the course, no matter how you pay. You can sign up for my email list right in the sidebar of these show notes at passionatepainterpodcast.com.

"Also, be sure to register for the free webinar if you want to watch an exclusive demonstration about how to correct five mistakes portrait painters make. This demo is separate from the course demo and created just for the webinar, though those who buy the course will get the recording as a bonus resource."

"Yes, I realize some artists may feel they’ve got a specific area down and want to jump right to another area so I’m releasing the entire course at once without requiring you go through it in order."

Everything will be linked through passionatepainteracademy.com.

Right now you can register for the webinar at this location, but as of the day the cart opens on Thursday, March 10, 2022, there will also be a link directly to the course page where it can be purchased, in case someone wants to buy it without attending the webinar."

"I'm going to say that whether you want to become a portrait artist or make a different type of art, living by the principles of The Portrait Code will help you get there:

"Principle 1 - Painting portraits* is no different than painting anything else. You're painting the way light reflects off of your subject.

*AND if you're not a portrait artist, 'painting anything is no different than painting anything else.' You're still painting the way light reflects off of your subject, whatever that may be, so don't go intimidating yourself out of even getting started!

"Principle 2 - Persistence is more important than talent.

"Principle 3 - If did it once, can do it again. It's not a 'one-off,' it's not a 'fluke.'

The ability is inside you and you can call it forth as often as you want to. LIVE YOUR ART.

"They say that you cant feel fear and love at the same time.
 I think playfulness and curiosity are tied to self-love — and the ability to laugh at yourself.

"If you take on all of your creative pursuits with playfulness and curiosity, you’ll go a long way toward banishing the fear from your life, and becoming the incredible artist you were meant to be."