Beyond... part 2

The content of the class isn't about painting techniques, applying the paint to the paper.  It is all about design, how to use the elements of design to create the characteristics of a good painting.  The seven elements of design we discussed are:

• line
• size
• shape
• direction
• color 
• value
• texture

We spent most of the time, three weeks each, on value and color.  The last week, texture, we talked about actual painting technique, but that was the last day of class.

You manipulate these elements to create:

• unity
• harmony
• dominance
• conflict
• repetition
• variation
• gradation
• balance

It sounds simple enough.  Not so easy in reality.  Probably the most valuable part of the class was the critique session at the end.  Each week we would bring in our 2-3 paintings for critique.  It was really great to get the feedback on my own paintings as well as see what the others were doing and how they were progressing.  I can see why people take this class multiple times.  For one class member this was her 17th time through the course.  She could have taught it herself at this point.

#10

I was tired of the dull browns and blues I had been working with so I wanted to use mostly intense, pure colors and let the natural value of the different hues do the value work.  I wanted to stay away from the human form of the wood carving so I cropped it and focused on the swooping lines of the bottom.  This image doesn't really do justice to the intensity of the color.  It is pretty bold.

#11 - red rock by firelight

Here I simplified the shapes even further.  The inspiration for this was a red rock arch uplit by a campfire at night.  I used a flat brush and a stencil both positively and negatively to apply and lift paint to get the texture in the "stone" areas.  I used resist to make the little swirly stars.  This is one of my favorites.  Probably because it reminds me of a landscape I like so much.

#12 - ice

Class members went on and on about how hard it is to use Pthalo blue and Pthalo green paint.  So I decided to do a painting with primarily these two pigments.  Here the inspiration went from desert stone to icebergs.  The composition is a little weak with the darks spread out the way they are.  It needs to be more cohesive and lead the eye around the painting in a better way, but I like the color and texture.  I definitely get the icy feel.

#13 - primary

I wanted to move further away from the objects themselves.  I really like the textures I created here and the strong value pattern.  I usually work wet in very wet.  This can lead to a rather soft mushy look so I wanted to do something completely different.  I worked much dryer and left the individul brush strokes.  You can still see the original objects if you look for them, but it isn't obvious at all.

#14 - surreal

You can see the lines of the wood carving in here, but they have taken on a completely different form.  The head became a cracked moon, and the body a keyhole to the sky where the object became the negative space.  The empty rim of the drum holds them together.  The blocks and metronome are still there.  The arrangement of those objects could be better, but it's not bad.  

The thing I like best about this painting is the textures I was able to create.  The pigments I mixed for the grey of the planet separated back out on the paper leaving a pretty interesting effect.  You can see the cad red that floated to the surface.  On the outer rims I was going for a sort of old metal look.  I'm not sure if it looks like metal, but I like it.

This class was so much fun.  I really enjoyed the work.  There were other things in life that didn't get done, but I'll catch up later.

One more set still to come...