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CONTRASTS!!

9/25/2013

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So back to two questions: 
how am I going to show the viewer what is of interest in my painting?
what will make my painting more interesting?

Just as we learned last time that the place where the darkest dark and the lightest light meet is the place where the eye will be directed in a painting; it can also be said the place where the most contrast occurs is the area of the most interest.
      This means that we can show the viewer what we found to be the center of interest to us by manipulating contrasts.
      Contrasts also add more excitement to a painting, just as color changes excite.
      Colors contrast in value - darker and lighter - but what other ways can we show contrast.  Here are a few:
       Complementary colors - those across the color wheel from each other.
       Hard edges and soft edges - places of line and smudges. 
       Straight versus curves 
       Texture versus matte
       Transparent next to opaque (ala Stephen Quiller)

For the next two weeks we'll be planning and painting from your own photos, using a black and white sketch first, then a color map and finally the painting.  It might also be useful to do some preliminary work on finding the contrasts we want to use.

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Color is Value is Color is......

9/25/2013

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One of the most difficult things to think through is the value of color.  Some of us may do this instinctively but most often a painting isn't as successful as it might be for the simple reason that it doesn't have strong values.    

Paintings with the most interest generally have a variety of values.  Often when we paint we apply color - lots of color! - and think we have a beautiful painting.  And it might be so. But to be effective the colors should not only be different in hue or intensity but also in value.
Take a picture of some of your paintings - include some that work and some that don't.  Then change the picture to a black and white or sepia setting.  Do you have a variety of value?  Or do the objects and shapes become lost because they are all the same?

A good strategy is to use black and white paint samples from the paint store.
 Complete a black and white sketch of the subject you will be painting. 
Using the paint samples as a guide, find several colors for each of the values from black to white.
A good explanation of this can be found at this link: http://donnazagotta.com/blog/?p=4530

On thing this artist, Donna Zagotta, suggests is "Deliberate Practice".  This is like the exercises I have been having you complete.   I've also found it may be the best way to take my work to a higher level.  She also discusses a movement called 100 washes.  This is completing 100 different washes in watercolor but would also work with other media.





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One Step Beyond

9/4/2013

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Welcome to Taking Your Painting to the Next Level.
And now what exactly does that mean?

Well - Let's talk about the steps an artist takes in their growing process.  First comes the ability to see and reproduce what is in front of the eye.  Second or maybe at the same time, comes the ability to master the material....  And this is where many painters stop.  They produce painting after painting successfully using their medium to recreate a photograph or an image in front of them.  And this can be very successful.
    But there are so many more steps beyond that ability!   Some may intuitively add their own technique - an unique use of color, space, materials - to enhance the surface image.  But what about the next step beyond that?  
    I would like to call it "creating mindfully."  By that, I mean "saying something" in your painting by intentionally manipulating reality.  I know what you're thinking!  I remember other artists telling me I should use my painting to say something.  Well - that really was too much.  I didn't have anything political to say when I paint.  One suggested I use my father's passing to say how much I missed him.  Oh right, and how was I to do that?
    So erase that from your mind.  We'll be talking more about this in class but what I'm saying here is you, as an artist, have something to say about what you are viewing in front of you.
    When the camera was developed we were given the ability to reproduce what is in front of the eye - and very faithfully!  Probably even more faithfully than the artist would do.   But the image captured was only a result of the inanimate object taking the picture.   Think of the Northern California coast or the Grand Canyon.   In the hands of a skilled and artistic photographer, it might be argued that the scope of the subject is captured.  But generally speaking, it is a pale reflection of what can be produced when filtered through the mind of the artist.  The reality of such majesty is easily lost.  Much as the Canyon is just gray stones until the sun turns them to fire.  Or the sea is just so much expanse until you are surrounded by the mist and spray.

    Human beings are amazing creatures!  Ask two people to describe what they have seen and they will give widely differing descriptions - all dependent upon their emotions, past experience, etc.
    So as artists, we can be, in effect, a camera - recorder - or something much more.  And that is what we are going to be thinking about in this class.  How do we tell our audience what it is that we are experiencing as we view life?
    
    No two people see the same scene in just the same way.  And here are two stories to explain this.
 
    One artist I know accepted a commission to create a painting of a beloved place using an old, faded snapshot from the client's scrapbook.  He set to work faithfully rendering the beautiful little rural church and the winding road beside it.   He was very pleased and excited to present the finished product but the lady only sighed and said "thank you - it's lovely.  But I really wanted a painting of the cemetery where my grandparents are buried."   After closer examination of the snapshot the artist saw that there was indeed a cemetery alongside the church but from his experience he had focused on what was beautiful to him... completely missing the headstones.  
    Of course it can't be said enough that whenever you accept a commission there needs to be lots of questions asked as to what exactly the client is seeing in the photograph!  Another example of this is someone who thought she was getting all the information from her client.   The transaction was all done by email - with a picture of a wedding party seated around a table.  The client explained that it was to be as a present for the couple.  So the artist did sketches and received enthusiastic responses.  She did the preliminary painting and it was okayed.  And then things fell apart.  The client was unhappy - didn't the artist see the beauty of the tablescape and why was the focus on the people around the table? 
    So what does this mean to you as an artist?  Even if you may never intend to accept a commission?  
    What do you want to tell the viewer about what is in front of your eyes.  Why are you interested enough in your subject to want to paint it?  What captures your imagination?  Is it the wedding party and the quirky people interacting?  Or is it the tablescape you helped the bride prepare?  Is it the cemetery or the church?    Or is it the emotion of gloom surrounding a site or the happiness of an event?
    These are the things only an artist can capture.  
    The photograph above was from my archives - taken of some middleschool students I took to Iowa State for an engineering/math conference.  it was a beautiful autumn day.   Many years ago I painted it as the photo above.  A few years ago, I repainted the scene, emphasizing the students in the autumn color.
I plan to repaint this again this year with an eye to capturing the reflections in the water.  
    So this is what we'll be doing this fall:  finding ways to make our paintings tell the viewer what we are experiencing as we paint.  We'll create a painting every two weeks, focusing on a different strategy.  This first week we'll work with a still life, using with values.
    At the end of this class, you should have a photograph of the still life, a black and white value sketch and a color map of the colors you will be using in your painting.
    Next week, we'll do a very quick color sketch and paint the still life!
    For those who missed the class, please bring a picture of a still life with fruit or vegetables.    If you get the chance during the week, go ahead and do a small black and white value sketch.

    


    




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    Kathy Glenn
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