Workshop | Pop Inspired Portraits
10.30am–4pm
£120
[ Workshop )
Buy Tickets >Image Credit: Patrick Caulfield (1936–2005), Study for ‘Portrait of Juan Gris’, 1963, Pencil and coloured pencil on paper, Wilson Gift through Art Fund (2006), © The Estate of Patrick Caulfield. All rights reserved, DACS 2026
Explore portraiture through a Pop Art lens with award winning artist Wendy Barratt, creating bold and expressive works inspired by the Pop and the Figure exhibition at Pallant House Gallery.
In this one-day workshop, you’ll work directly from a live model, using drawing techniques to develop striking, pop-inspired portraits. Through a series of guided exercises, you’ll explore ways to simplify and exaggerate features, experimenting with line, tone, pattern and composition to create dynamic images.
In the afternoon, you’ll build on these approaches to develop a more resolved piece, with guidance on working confidently and expressively in drawing. Wendy will share techniques for translating observation into bold, stylised portraits, encouraging you to balance accuracy with creative interpretation.
During the day, you’ll also have the opportunity to visit the exhibition, exploring how artists associated with Pop Art have reimagined the figure through colour, pattern and visual language.
Suitable for all levels, this workshop offers a supportive and exploratory environment. By the end of the session, you will have produced a series of studies and a finished pop-inspired portrait to take home.
Wendy Barratt
Wendy Barratt is an artist who is fascinated with representing the human – both in portraiture and life drawing. Her portraiture is made primarily in oil paint whereas life drawing becomes an experiment in mostly dry media. She is the winner of Sky Portrait Artist of the Year 2023.
She studied graphic design in Manchester back in the early 80s and has been working ever since as a designer, until a few years ago when she launched herself as a full-time artist. Throughout her career, she has spent a lot of her spare time in the life room honing her artistic skills as well as passing on her love of drawing and painting onto others through teaching.
Recently she has seen her paintings accepted for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibition as well as having work exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery. Commissions include large portraits which were used as major props for the ITV Crime Drama series The Long Call. Wendy is a member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters and her self-portrait was selected for the Herbert Smith Freehills Painting award show at the National Portrait Gallery in 2024.
