February 25 - Continue Colorful Still Life ...Shapes and Color or Choose Another Subject

Wow, the Fauvists ruled today! We were all wild!

For next week...Let's continue this WILD thread for another week...take your same still life setup, or simplify it, and paint it in totally different colors. Or, choose a realistic work you've done, simplify the shapes, and paint it again in all different (unrealistic) colors. Or pick one interesting shaped object (my thought was a jigsaw puzzle piece), draw it over and over again - rotated, angled, upside down, reversed, larger, smaller, layered, and remember off the page too...and go FAUVE wild! Attached for inspiration is an abstract by Daisy Eiman that she based on mushrooms (photo from lucky owner Linda).

What you are actually learning besides discovering your wild side, is looking closely at shapes. Each shape you draw creates 2 or more shapes, since you create a new shape between your object and the next shape on the paper. Painting in blocks of color makes you focus on the shapes. And as Darcie also observed, you also get to see how colors react next to different colors...

Attachments on composition and values:

1) Basics of Composition

2) Abstraction in Composition - museum exhibit St Pete MFA, Abstraction and The American Scene (1910-1940s)

My Fauvist attempt today: may break up the background some more, or just make it all purple ...stay tuned

Fauve painters: Matisse, Zorach

Daisy Eiman: Mushroom Abstract

Art quote of the week:

If, when facing the paper, you say to yourself, 'I'm an artist,' you haven't a clue as to what to do! If, however, you say, 'I am an entertainer, a shape maker and an expressive symbol collector,' you know the task ahead and how to proceed. (Edgar A. Whitney)

February 18 - Colorful Still Life ...Shapes and Color

COLORFUL STILL LIFE...SHAPES and COLOR as intro to composition...

PREPARATION BEFORE CLASS: Take 9 to 15 colorful objects; include a shiny one if you can; arrange on and in front of colorful cloth (I used scarves, can be clothing, etc) in strong directional light if possible. DRAW directly on to your watercolor paper...remember our "contour drawing" technique?? If your light will change, take a photo and use it to draw.

```Try to draw the shapes you SEE, including the shapes between the objects, and the shapes reflected in your shiny object.

```As you draw each shape, evaluate it with "is this a good shape or is it dumb"?

```After you draw, dismantle your setup!

Next week: We'll paint each shape, using full strength pigments in your palette - no mixing. FUN FUN!

Attached is the image I'm using and my drawing...some fruit, veggies, copper items, a vase, and 2 scarves.

February 11 - Explorations of Legs Continues ... to Landscapes

Nicely done this week! Great value contrasts in your work - painted or pencil! Attached are my photo and completed painting (I changed the far shore line to create the diagonal I wanted)... (Attachments are below under Classwork Corner February 11).

Next week: COLORFUL STILL LIFE...SHAPES and COLOR as intro to composition...

PREPARATION BEFORE CLASS: Take 9 to 15 colorful objects; include a shiny one if you can; arrange on and in front of colorful cloth (I used scarves, can be clothing, etc) in strong directional light if possible. DRAW directly on to your watercolor paper...remember our "contour drawing" technique?? If your light will change, take a photo and use it to draw.

```Try to draw the shapes you SEE, including the shapes between the objects, and the shapes reflected in your shiny object.

```As you draw each shape, evaluate it with "is this a good shape or is it dumb"?

```After you draw, dismantle your setup!

Next week: We'll paint each shape, using full strength pigments in your palette - no mixing. FUN FUN!

Attached is the image I'm using and my drawing...some fruit, veggies, copper items, a vase, and 2 scarves.

Bite-size introductions to composition..less than 10 minutes each...

1. YOUTUBE: MALCOM DEWEY 15 Essentials of Composition

Malcolm Dewey 15 Essentials to Composition KEEP LIST HANDY AND REVIEW!

2. Linescapes Youtube: “Composition in drawing”

Linescapes - Composition in Drawing

3. Linescapes Youtube: “Landscapes”

Linescapes - Landscapes

Art quote of the week:

We find beauty not in the thing itself, but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness,

that one thing against another creates. (Junichiro Tanizaki)

February 5 - Explorations of Legs Continues ... to Landscapes

What a fun variety of COLORFUL VALUE- driven paintings on January 29th!

Next 2 weeks: Apply this week's learnings to a Landscape!

Feb 5: Value studies of a landscape "6 ways", choose one color or warm/cool. Choose from offerings attached or your own; do small pencil value studies of 6 value arrangements...look at them to see what they suggest to you - mood, time of day, type of weather, etc.

Remember, the values in your paintings are totally in YOUR control!

Feb 11: Full color versions (you can pick just a couple if you want, not all 6...)!

Attached is a sequence from a painting I did "Woods", with my B&W value study, warm/cool value study, and completed painting.

Attached is also an art magazine article on values you might find useful.

Feb 18 & 25th: Composition...putting it all together!

Feb18th: Design & composition basics and dangers! Using value to lead the viewer’s eye, creating interest with gradation of values. Using small sketched value studies to refine design. Paint value study.

Feb 25: Putting it all together with color...!

Art quote of the week: In painting, as in life, you can get away with a great deal as long as you have your values right. (Harley Brown)

Nicely done this week! We did our painted value study followed by a color study, trying to match the VALUES of the color study with the VALUES of the value study. Well done!

Attachments:

Today's screen shot of wonderful value and color studies!

My B&W & Color studies, converted to all B&W for comparison. Pretty close!

Two watercolor magazine articles:

Landscape shapes

Primer on Values, plus the last page sent separately (ValuesShapesProgression) showing steps in progression from BASIC shape values, to values in detailed sketch, to painting...

And, Sailing Ship, painting by Gustav Bouchet that Marie had posted on Facebook... a study in strong shapes, value contrast, watercolor simplicity and power...