Author: Christine Hartman

Assignments and information about classes for the week of February 12th

February 13th and 15th: On Tuesday and Thursday we will continue to work on the high contrast, neutral hue painting set-up. Your assignment  handed out on Thursday the 8th to make a color palette is due Tuesday the 13th. Next week on Thursday the 22nd we will begin our work with a full palette and complementary color set ups. You will need all of the colors on the supply list with the exception of black and a new canvas 18 x 24 or 16 x 20.

 

 

 

Assignments and information about classes for the week of February 5th

February 6th and 8th: This week we will finish up our first painting on Tuesday and on Thursday will begin be working on a high contrast, limited hue still life set up. We will practice extending the range of darkest dark to lightest light. With the addition of ultramarine blue you will be able to achieve more saturated greens and violets.

It is important to focus on simple color relationships, like warm and cool, and large value shapes. We all share a natural tendency to focus on detail, while broad simple shapes and tonal relationships are observed without our conscious awareness, they are very crucial to our perception of light, form and space. The artist trains herself to see, put down and hold these broad relationships before adding detail. This one important lesson can give your work power and a sense of light and space that detail can not accomplish.

Assignment#1: Make a chart using the four colors we are using this week, ultramarine blue, Indian red, yellow ocher and white. Use the chart handed out on the 6th (Tuesday) as a guide. Use a canvas board or canvas paper to block in your colors. You may design it any way you want just be sure to mix all three primary and secondary colors tints and grays. Due on Thursday the 8th.

Assignment#2: Start to build your own Library of digital images. Paintings that you are attracted to and would like to emulate. I would like you to put together 25-30 images for mid-term review. Be prepared to present the images digitally we will select one from either your library or the library on this website for a long term assignment  which will be due at final review in May. (Midterms: March 1st and 6th)

 

Assignments and information about classes for the week of January 29th.

January 30th and February 1st: Thursday the 1st will be our last class on your first painting. Next week we will add ultramarine blue to our palette and work with higher contrast setups. You will need all your general supplies and colors from last week with the addition of ultramarine blue and a fresh canvas 11 x 14 or larger. Instead of toning your canvas with mid-grey gesso this time we will use oil paint to tone, wiping out lights and adding darks to make a monotone under painting. We will work on this painting for four sessions finishing on the 15th.

Assignment: Your assignment, posted last week, is due Thursday we will take some time to look at both your assignment and your first paintings.

 

Assignments and information about classes for the week of January 22nd.

January 23rd and 25th: We will be working with a limited palette, our first full class of painting. First, we will work on setting up a palette for four colors. Black, white, Indian red and Yellow Ocher. We will work on the high key / low contrast setup. If all goes well, February the 1st, Thursday, will be our last day on this first painting. Limited color palette assignment given on Thursday the 18th is due on Tuesday the 23rd.

Assignment: Do a value study of one of the paintings on the library page of this website. Use black and white oil paint on a small canvas, canvas board or primed paper. Spend as much time as you need establishing your drawing, then no more than 30 minutes painting in the values. Work quickly! Don’t worry about details try to get the values of the big shapes by simplifying try to use only five values. Adjust the values until they are accurate in relation to one another. Pay attention to the edges between values, if they are softer that means the values are closer, hard edges reflect a wider value jump. This assignment is due Thursday February 1st. As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

 

Road Trip!

Jerry’s will provide art department students with free bus transportation to their Norwalk store on Friday January 19th. If you wish to go please sign up in the main art office. Bus leaves VPAC at 10 am, North entrance and returns by 1 pm. 

One of the important skills we will learn this semester is developing the ability to separate our visual awareness (perception) from our conceptual understanding. By that I mean our ability to see the real pear for example, and not the symbol of the pear that we carry around in our visual memory. Often when first learning to paint perceptually you may end up with a mash up of perception and symbol. Learning to ignore symbolic knowledge can be challenging. It is helpful to understand that painting is a process of constructing and building a representation of what you are seeing, and is fundamentally only about relationships. A line or shape or color is correct only “in relation” to everything else in the painting. So the process of making a painting is about finding the relationships between things……by using your newly developing skills. Sighting angles, noting value hue and saturation, and using negative spaces will improve your ability to see color and shape. Painting is a lifelong project with lots of levels and new experiences that are both challenging and extremely fun. It is important to know that painting is a skill that takes practice, time and patience and not something magical or automatic, Picasso said, “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”!

Assignments and information about classes for the week of January 15th.

January 18th: We will go over the class syllabus and talk about materials and studio practices. We will also tone the canvas for your first painting. Bring a small canvas (11×14), and the materials you will need to paint! (those items with an asterisk on your materials list) We will start with a simple block in. If you have questions about materials feel free to email me.