SELF / PORTRAIT: Photography + Acrylic Painting Workshop

By La Chaise at Natural Law, Verbier · Second edition · Sunday 15 November, 16:30

Not how you look, how you feel.

We are surrounded by images of ourselves, yet those images rarely show the full person behind them. A photograph is a single instant, fixed and finished. A painting is a process that keeps happening. This workshop puts the two side by side: you are photographed, the portrait is printed, and then you paint into it, covering, exaggerating and rewriting it until it says something closer to how you actually feel.

The first edition left the room quieter, warmer and full of very different faces. We are opening it again.

What people took from the first edition

"I have missed the physical, tangible creativity for a long time."

"To see how I see myself in such different ways, at this moment in time, a little glimpse into my mind. This is it."

Words from a participant, shared publicly after the first session.

Three things stood out in the room:

• Hands before words. Many people arrive carrying feelings they cannot yet put into language. Paint gave them somewhere to put it.
• Twelve photographs, twelve completely different paintings. Some people covered the whole face in colour, others kept one eye and let the rest dissolve. Nobody was asked to look like themselves.
• A creative afternoon that is not on a screen. A table, a small group, music, paint, and the quiet pleasure of making something with your hands in good company.

The idea behind it

Psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan described a gap that begins in infancy: the first time we see ourselves in a mirror we meet a tidy, unified image that never quite matches how it feels to be inside our own body. Artists have been working in that gap for five hundred years, from Rembrandt ageing honestly across a hundred self-portraits to Frida Kahlo painting herself twice in one canvas, to Cindy Sherman refusing a single "true" self altogether.

Today's selfie keeps the image and drops the pause. This workshop restores the pause. The photograph shows you for a fraction of a second. The paint lets you keep becoming, right there on the page.

(OPTIONAL) The experience begins with a short individual portrait session. Lucia Harrison will photograph each participant in the moment, not heavily posed or perfected, but present and real. Your chosen portrait will then be printed during the workshop and become the starting point for your artwork.

Using acrylic paint, coloured pencils, texture and expressive mark-making, you will transform the photograph according to how you feel rather than simply how you appear. You might preserve one detail and erase the rest. Cover part of the face. Exaggerate a feature. Work with four colours that represent your current state. Replace realism with shape, gesture, repetition or abstraction.

There is no correct way for the finished portrait to look. Some of the most powerful self-portraits contain only a few lines, blocks of colour or one recognisable fragment of a face.

How the workshop will unfold

We begin with a short visual introduction to self-portraiture through history, from Rembrandt to Kahlo to contemporary abstraction, and different ways of working with a photographic image.

Each participant will then have an individual portrait taken while the rest of the group experiments with colour palettes, materials and small mark-making exercises.

Once your photograph is printed, Lucia Harrison and Paula Palacios will guide you through the process of developing it into a painted piece. The group is small so that everyone receives personal guidance while keeping the freedom to follow their own direction.

There will be time to work independently, share ideas around the table and meet other people through the creative process. At the end, we bring the portraits together for an informal collective viewing and photograph the finished works.

What is included

Your ticket includes:

• An individual photographic portrait session and printed photograph on normal paper. Digital photo may be shared via email.
• Acrylic paints, brushes, coloured pencils, palettes and creative materials
• Guidance throughout the photographic and painting process
• Protective table materials and shared studio tools
• Snacks and drinks
• Your completed self-portrait artwork to take home

What you will explore

• Intervene directly on a photographic portrait using paint, pencil and colour
• Approach abstract and expressive mark-making without relying on realism
• Translate emotions, memories and personal associations into shape and colour
• Build an image through layering, covering, removing and revealing
• Work more intuitively and let go of the pressure to make something perfect

Who is it for?

Complete beginners and experienced photographers, painters and drawers alike. You do not need to consider yourself an artist. Curiosity and a willingness to experiment are enough.

The recommended age is 12 years and above. It works well alone, as a couple, with a friend, or as a way of meeting new people in the local community.

The workshop can be guided in English, French, Spanish and Italian, adapting explanations so that everyone can participate comfortably.

What to bring

Wear clothes and shoes that can get marked or stained. Acrylic paint is difficult to remove once dry, so this is not the afternoon for your favourite white shirt. Aprons may be available, but comfortable clothes you do not mind getting dirty are best.

Pets are welcome at Natural Law when kept under supervision and comfortable in a shared workshop environment. Please let us know in advance.

Accessibility

Natural Law is wheelchair accessible. Please contact us beforehand with any access requirements so that we can prepare the space.

Location

Natural Law
Chemin de la Barmète 1
1936 Verbier, Switzerland

Why we create these workshops

La Chaise creates spaces where people can slow down, work with their hands and meet one another through the process of making. The less we consume, the more we create, the better we feel.

Creativity is not reserved for professional artists. It is an action, a method and a physical process that everyone can explore. Our workshops are priced to stay accessible, with most proceeds going to keep the art space running and to cover materials and food.

Follow La Chaise

Instagram: @lachaise.community
Website: lachaise.community
Email: contact@lachaise.community

Photography and creative direction: Lucia Harrison — @luciaharrison
Workshop guidance: Lucia Harrison and Paula Palacios