A2 Oil Intro Info 2019

As I have said in class, for many years the main oil painting the Art 2 students have completed is a monochromatic piece from a b/w photograph.
This allows you to get stronger at some skills worked on in your past (recognizing value and using the grid method for enlarging an image) while at the same time getting better and more familiar with painting with oils without dealing with color mixing.

I am totally fine with you doing this for your project. I will always prefer if it is an image you (or someone you know) have taken yourself, but finding a b/w image online also works.
One thing to remember is that painting from the photograph you find online without altering it in a decently significant way isn't ideal for a future portfolio you may want to create.

It is with this in mind that I want to put the following together.

First option: as stated above, you find a b/w image and use that for your painting; from here the only decision you really need to make is which color to use.

Second option: you use a photograph that you (or someone close to you) have taken. I can work with you in class to get the best b/w conversion for this, then you will pick your color and you will be off to the races.

Third option: you create your own image.
But wait, isn't that what the second option is? In part, yes. Maybe.
I have used these foreshortening examples with students for a project in the past, and as generally "straight" photographs to work from, the ideas would work really quite well. It would require you to put some thought ahead of time into the images though, and get some photo options taken ahead of time.
I do want you to be able to bring some of your own creativity into the composition and not be solely limited to working strictly from ONE photograph if you would like. That's why I was showing a lot of the examples from pinterest in class the other day.
I still want you to work from photographs though. You can have a series that you draw from, or you can even select out certain parts and "collage" them together in procreate (which would give you one photographic image to work from).

If you create your own image - whether it is as one original photo or as some sort of collage, please refrain from having too much blank space in the background. Think about how you can create a dynamic composition - which we have been working with since our first painting in Art 1, actually.
Some of you feel as though you kind of intuitively "get" how to create an interesting composition with a clear focal point, use of depth/space, etc., but if you do some simple google searches you can find some interesting ideas that might help. Of course, pinterest has a lot of the same things available, so if you want to start creating an easy place to keep ideas, that isn't a terrible idea.

I know a lot of the image examples include figurative work, but you don't have to use a human figure. There are plenty of ways that animals, nature, machines, etc. can be used.

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And if you are interested in going deeper...

One thing you might find interesting - and what I hope to get into later in the year - is to think about the symbolic meaning behind certain items. Now, if you google this content you'll get information that is all over the map, and we must remember that different cultures (and times in history, even) associate different meanings for the same (or similar) object(s), but to plow into this idea can be absolutely fascinating.

For example some symbolic meanings of the following are easily found:
Blackbird = wisdom, power, beauty;
Cardinal = responsibility, balance;
Oak = honor, nobility, wisdom;
Hand = strength, power, protection;
Cairn = balance, safe travel;

The list goes on (nearly) infinitely.

You may start with images or ideas that you think are just fun or interesting, but you can also begin to infuse what you make with additional meaning/layers if you choose to. IMO this just makes it all the more interesting.
There is an artist, Kirsten Francis, that has changed her making process a lot over the years, but when I first found out about her (and bought her art, oh, and some postcards of hers are in the display cases between rooms 501 and 502 now), she was doing these interesting woodcuts that have often "simple" compositions, but interesting use of imagery that you could possibly get some ideas from (in terms of combining images in a way that is creative and not like a "straight" photograph).

What I would do is think about using photographs to draw/paint from, but think about how you can use those references to create a personal and unique image. I do want you to aim for realism in terms of the representation of the elements of your image, but the layout and way they are combined can be unique.

This is all a lot to unpack, but I believe in all of you, and the curiosity you have. You can go quite deep with your art making and imagery and I get really excited by that part of the process - much more than the purely technical aspect of it.
I would add that I don't want you to lose the fun in image making. Make if fun for yourself for sure! But I know you have it in you to add more layers to your image too!

Let's see some ideation and sketches and talk about where you are going before the end of the week!

Per the Perspectives Ideation

I was thinking about your brainstorming for the "perspectives" topic from NUMU and then I was leafing through a book from the de Young (a great museum in the city if you've never been) and I saw the below painting from Aaron Douglas.

I'd never heard of him before, and I quite like this painting. I enjoy how the composition is dynamic in its use of scale and color, and then I noticed the shapes that radiate out from the seated figure. Those are cool.
This may not be the ideal way for you to show off your painting skills for a large project like this since there is, essentially, no modeling of form, but the idea works quite well. Especially if you take the time to read the snippet from the book you'll see how there is a lot more going on in this image than meets the eye.


On p. 95, the following is said about the above piece (titled, Aspiration)
"During the 1920's, African Americans created a thriving culture of jazz, theater, literature, and visual art in New York/s Harlem district. Known as the Harlem Renaissance, this artistic explosion fostered a cultural community of people who set about celebrating the opportunities of modern urban life in a language that drew inspiration from their common heritages as people of African descent. Aspiration is one section of a four-part mural cycle that Douglas created for "Hall of Negro Life" at the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas. The cycle reflects the optimism among African Americans that lingered well after the halcyon days of the Harlem Renaissance. In this mural Douglas organizes his visual image of African heritage according to a highly rationalized, didactic scheme: the shackled hands reach up in a gesture that links them with the experience of slavery, while the monumental figures represent the transformation from forced labor to a community of modern workers inspired by leaders trained in literature, science, and engineering, as symbolized by the book, beaker, globe, and compass and right angle. As a further celebration of African heritage, Douglas uses and Egyptian inspired figure and the pictorial conventions of Egyptian representation, which combine frontal and profile images. In this way he unites the flattened, abstract language of avant-garde modernism with the visual vocabulary linked to ancient Egypt and, therefor, African origins."

I also like this image.
 
I want you to push how you think with your thumbnails and think about ideas and feelings and perceptions that you could convey. Even if you know you are doing a master oil copy, this is a good process to go through. Besides, it will help you think of ideas for Independent Practice and daily sketchbook pieces as we go through the year as well.

Flesh

Many of you are dealing with painting faces, and many of you are making really good choices in your paintings. I do want to throw out a few notes and jumping off points just in case you desire/need them.
I mean, I know the basic recipe I tend towards when painting a portrait (white + burnt sienna with dabs of cadmium red light, ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow medium), but there are so many recipes out there.
One of the things I know is that if you find a flesh color that you like, and only deal with adding different amounts of white to it to create varying values, you tend to have a painting that lacks complexity and depth.
I also know that for many of you, putting vivid colors in your painting of flesh makes you feel uncomfortable. So what are you to do?
First, I did a quick search for "painting flesh in oil" or something like that, and then started to look at some of the content that came from there. There is so much interesting information out there that is only a search away.
If you find that you aren't getting the color(s) you desire, and you haven't used the books in class as guides, or the chart near the back door in class, or asked your peers, I strongly recommend you visit some of the links in this post.

Cheers!

Annual Art in the Council Chambers Exhibit

It's January (barely) so that means it's time for me to drop off oil paintings in the Town Council Chambers. I will say that they look fabulous, but of course you know I am biased.

Next week is the reception for the exhibit and I definitely would like to visit with you while you gawk at all of the goodness on the walls. I also am offering extra credit to the students that show up, so that's a good perk for them.

Since it is a reception, and teenagers are involved, it would be fantastic to have some parents volunteer some food and beverage items. You can do that HERE.

The exhibition is of a random selection of oil paintings from the Art 2, 3, and 4h classes so I think you'll be impressed by their diligence and hard work.

More information may be found on the Town AICC website. I hope to see you there.
The time is 6-7:30...in case you don't really feel like clicking the above link.

Have a wonderful weekend.

They aren't printing a physical postcard this year, so here is a copy of the image I sent them for the virtual one they will be emailing out.

If you have any questions please let me know. 

A Little Glimpse

If you are interested in seeing some of the work that goes on in the art studios, you're in luck. This is just a tiny tiny sliver from each of the four Art levels here at LG that I could get in between doing demonstrations, helping students, grading, and prepping for the next thing.
By this point, much of this work is well behind us, but this will give you a glimpse of what the very end of Sept and/or the very beginning of Oct looked like.

If you have 4:30 to spare, enjoy.