Painting
A painting course intended to advance skills in the materials, concepts and history of painting. The primary medium used was acrylic paint and paintings were done from direct observation. Initially, the focus was on black and white, then limited palette, and finally full palette. Besides tape around the borders, all lines were freehanded.
3 values only
A white block placed on a white ground and black background. Used ivory black and titanium white to reduce the set-up into three values. All colors were mixed, rather than using the pure paint colors. Artificial light source was placed to increase contrast between the lights and darks.
6 values only
A white block placed atop a brown cardboard box on a white ground and black background. Used ivory black and titanium white. First layer was reduced to three values, then the second layer was painted with the final six values.
6 values only
Quick one-class length painting to kick off our first in-person session. First layer was three values, final layer was six values. Squinted to reduce the differing colors to black and white value relationships.
Sky observations
Two practice sky studies painted in one class, larger study painted on another day. Closely observed the sky to gradate from cool to warm as the sky got closer to the horizon. Included a small portion of architecture to provide context and foreground-background relationship.
One-point perspective
Final painting on a 16"x20" canvas that displayed the contrast of the dark and desaturated indoors to the light and saturated outdoors. First few layers solely used ivory black and titanium white to first understand the value relationships of various objects. Next layers were painted with the addition of color using the grayscale layer as reference for value while considering saturation and hue. Continued to apply the color theory learned throughout the term.
Metallic Objects
Metallic objects and colored blocks with colored ground and backdrop painted with ivory black, titanium white, ultramarine blue, and burnt sienna. Challenge was to depict the reflectivity of the metallic objects and denote cool and warm tones with the addition of color. First layer was simplified in values with more details added in the later layer.
Limited palette: complementary colors
Colored blocks painted using complementary colors to learn how to desaturate and darken values without ivory black and raw umber.
transparency
Focused on how a transparent material makes the slightest difference to the color behind it. Limited palette meant that no ivory black or raw umber were used. Complementary colors were used to achieve contrast in hue, saturation, and value.
