DeKALB – The Kishwaukee Valley Art League’s May meeting will feature Michael Latala demonstrating how to paint a portrait from a live model. Latala will do an oil portrait sketch using a palette of only white, yellow, red and black. Latala works quickly to keep his work fresh but accurate and not overworked.

The league will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 3, at the Unitarian Universalist church on the corner of North Fourth and Locust streets in DeKalb. Coffee and refreshments will follow. Anyone with an interest in the arts, oil painting or portrait work is invited to attend. The demonstration is free.

Latala has been a professional commercial illustrator for 30 years and a portrait artist for 15 years. He studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He has won many awards for his paintings, including Best of Show at the Barrington Plein Air Competion in 2011, the 2010 Senior Artists Network Competition and the 2009 Chicago Pastel Painters Competition.