Wednesday Sept 29 / Assignment for Monday, Oct 4

Independent Study on Wed, Sept 29.
Please check your email and review the assignment posted below:


Utilize the techniques you've explored on your still life sampler to create a watercolor still life of your fruit or vegetables. Review this gallery link (also posted on the right) and exercise the following during the execution of this painting:


considerations:
1. overall design
2. accuracy of representation (what are we looking at? If we can't tell whether it is a lemon or a lime it is NOT accurate!)
3. utilization of the best techniques to represent your subject
4. overall aesthetics


Tomorrow you will be working on your fruit / vegetable still life independently during our scheduled studio session / class time.  You may work on it at home or in the classroom - as  long as you complete it prior to class on Monday, 10/4.

During the crit we will review the following watercolor assignments:
1. fruit / vegetable still life
2. earthwork/landscape still life inspired by Andy Goldsworthy
3. charles rennie macintosh inspired botanical
4. a watercolor assigment of your choice

Please remember that a critique is a time to receive feedback on your classwork from your peers as well as review your work from a distance: its strengths and weaknesses and what you need focus on next as you learn this new medium.

It is designed to create constructive dialogue and review your creative progress.


Extra curricular announcement:Friday, Oct 1 is First Friday- a time of art openings and cultural exchange. There are painting exhibitions at 1708 Gallery, ADA Gallery and Page Bond Gallery which are worth your time and attention. 1708 and ADA are located on Broad St. Page Bond is on Main St.

watercolor Studio Mon Sept 27 & Assignment for Wed, Sept 29

Review homework

Create a Botanical Sampler:

    Create 4 thumbnail studies of your fruit or vegetable on one side of your watercolor paper
    On the other side create 6 or more interpretations of your fruit or vegetable, life size or bigger.
      emphasize:
      light and shadow
      proportion and point of view
      use a different technique for each interpretation of your subject

We should be able to identify the type of fruit or vegetable you are painting as well as the technique you have used to interpret it. Review the Lime video here for tips in painting limes in three dimensions.

Before class on Wedneday:


Review the still life gallery link.
On a new sheet of paper create a large still life of your subject matter. You may add additional botanicals and props as long as you integrate what you learned from the thumbnail and sampler exercises into this  still life.

emphasize:

      light and shadow

      proportion and point of view (large, dramatic, moody, etc)

      composition

      choose the best technique from your sampler for interpreting your still life

BRING:

finished sampler

fruit or vegetables for still life

props of your choice

new thumbnails if you are adding more fruit/vegetables of props. 

Watercolor Studio Wed Sept 22 & Assignment for Mon, Sept 27

Studio time:
Review stamping experiments


Watch and listen to the DVD "Rivers and Tides," which documents the work of Scottish artist  Andy Goldsworthy. Review landscape links and videos to the right! 


If you miss class today this DVD is available for streaming on Netflix, there are clips of it on YouTube and it is likely available at your local DVD rental. There is a link to a short clip on the link list to the right -

Complete texture studies of the natural objects begun in the studio on Monday. We will review these in your first crit - so take time to do it right. The date of our first crit is still TBA.


Homework:
Create an earthwork / waterwork of natural materials that interacts with the landscape. Use materials you know, if possible. (rocks you've collected, petals from a flower that is prolific in your garden, etc) Use these materials to interact with the landscape, outdoor site you choose to work in. 


Create a minimum of 4 thumbnail (postcard size) studies of your still life using pencil on the back of your watecolor sheet


Choose the best interpretation/layout of your still life. 


Create a watercolor study based on your the best composition on the other side of your watercolor paper. Document your interaction/waterwork/earthwork with your digital camera or phone and email me the photograph. 


Considerations:
Refer to Mr. Goldsworthy regarding what how to paint/draw/sculpt, interact with the materials of the landscape IN the landscape. How do the the elements affect our relationship with the land and the materials it provides? What techniques will you choose to explore your watercolor of this interaction?


Use a complete piece of watercolor paper


Use the techniques you've experimented with that BEST SUIT your subject matter. List these on the back of the watercolor paper.


Due Monday:


*Bring completed still life / landscape
*Bring fruit or vegetables that inspire you with their color, simplicity and taste - 
  You will paint them in class on Monday!

Watercolor Studio Monday Sept 20 & Assignment for Wed, Sept 22

Studio: Positive / Negative Space

Create 4 contour line drawings of the natural objects or objects you brought to class today.
Use one full sheet of watercolor paper, increasing the size of the objects to fill the negative space.
Focus on the positive space, fill the contour shapes with the four techniques listed below:
1. fill the contour shape with a two toned wash. pay close attention to the edges
2. simulate the textures and tones of your object using graphite pencil
3. use the textures and techniques you've learned thus far to create a version more inventive and stylized, an
    example of invented texture
4. simulate the textures and tones of your object using watercolor glazes and textures (as photorealistic as
    possible!)

This series will be finished in class on Wednesday.
Watch the Walton Ford video link on the right as well as the Simultaneous Texture/How to Paint an Onion link. Do NOT use watercolor pencil when simulating texture - use a small pointed brush instead.

Homework:
Create a series of texture/stamping experiments on one piece of watercolor paper

Refer to your handout for ideas - do not draw a grid on your paper but do label each texture according to the materials you used to stamp each one.

I will check your stamping exercises at the beginning of class while you complete the work we began in the studio today!

Watercolor Studio/September 15 - Assignment September 20

Classwork:

Review mackintosh studies
Finish Mackintosh inspired botanical studies
review homework handout for Monday 9.20

Homework:

RECOMMENDED:
Try to attend the Musicircus on Sept. 16, from 9-10 PM @ the Visual Arts Center in Richmond @ 1812 W. Main St. This event is organized anually by Brian Jones and is inspired by a concept created by John Cage, in which a whole bunch of musicians play music simultaneously in the same space. If last year is any indication it is sure to be a boistrous, cacaphonous hullabaloo!


REVIEW James Audubon links prior to class on Monday (see link on the right)


FINISH today's classwork if you haven't already


CREATE a positive negative study based on a landscape of your choice over the weekend. Pick a block of time and work "plein air" outdoors. Simplify nature's forms into a drawing which emphasizes positive and negative space. Create a figure ground reversal based on the handout you received and the drawing you complete during this session.


Refer to the handout regarding guidelines and process!

considerations:
*fill page with positive/negative composition
*emphasize negative space
*use salt in negative space
*choose a warm and a cool color and vary the tonal range, opacity and transparency of these two colors
*The negative space should emphasize the foreground (positive space)


BRING natural forms to class that you've found in nature (rocks, limbs, seashells, etc)

September 13 studio / homework for Wednesday, September 15

in watercolor studio today:
watch Macintosh video
review Macintosh botanicals
review classroom experiments and botanical experiments completed at home


create study of Macintosh botanical based on handout


homework
finish Macintosh Botanical study before class on Wednesday
bring plant form to depict in Macintosh style

goal: create a Macintosh inspired study of the plant you've chosen during class on Wednesday.
Highly recommended:
Begin  drawing it in pencil on your watercolor paper before class!

considerations:
enlarging plant form on a scanner or copier will aid in seeing details
create detailed contour study of plant form in pencil first
balance organic wash and structure in design
signature, plant type and date, etc should be integrated into final design
work large!
review macintosh botanical website and videos again for inspiration

Classwork for Wed September 8 / Homework for September 13

Studio Notes: 

watch watercolor DVD during class

read handout

create technical sampler which demonstrates each of the techniques described on the handouts plus one botanical study of the same size which integrates ALL of the techniques on the handout in a sampler

 1. Ridge exercise

 2. Cone exercise

 3. Positive Negative exercise

 4. Combine all three in a small botanical study

Homework

*Create an additional  technical sampler of four of the DVD exercises. Select four of the techniques demonstrated on the DVD. 

*review the history links to the right and in particular the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh

*Create one LARGE botanical study which integrates ALL of the techniques you've demonstrated in the previous exercise samplers (seven this far!)

* bring spray bottle (which is capable of a fine mist) and large inexpensive flat brush to class

Watercolor Studio Assignment for Wednesday, September 8

In class on Wednesday, September 1
watch "painting the landscape in watercolor" DVD while making progress on the three Paul Klee grids

Monday, September 6: class canceled / Labor Day Holiday

Homework for Wednesday, September 8:
*bring completed  Paul Klee grids to class (four total)
*review history links to the right as well as the Walton Ford links which will supplement watercolor history
  handout and lecture
*bring botanical subject matter to paint in class (flowers, leaves, branches, etc) Simple is better. silk
  flowers ok as long as you have some live greenery.