Class 21 | 11.13.09 | Field Trip

Materials Needed

  • Sketchbook, pencils
  • Camera or camera-phone

Discussion : Field Trip

We are going to the A Station at Jay Street-Borough Hall where artist Ben Snead has recently installed a permanent glass mosaic and ceramic tile artwork called Departures and Arrivals.

From the MTA website:

The intricate play of nature is the theme of Ben Snead’s mosaic and tile artwork, which fills the south mezzanine with bold color and intricate patterns along a specially designed 103 foot-long curved wall. The work exhibits the artist’s interest in natural species and ways of arranging them in systems and patterns that highlight the connections and relationships between dissimilar species.

The artwork – created in glass mosaic based on Snead’s original paintings – features species that have migrated to Brooklyn as well as one species that is departing. He arranges the species in layers that can be seen from left to right: European starling (originally from England), a house sparrow (Europe), Red Lion fish (Indian Ocean), Monk parrot (South America) and Koi (Japan). The Tiger Beetle is represented on a tile background; a local species that is in decline. The result is a bold and graphic set of images that intrigue and delight passersby during their own departures and arrivals.

Ben Snead’s Website:

Questions / Answers

Answer the following in your sketch book:

  1. What inspires Ben’s work?
  2. What role does Symmetry and Pattern play in his work?
  3. Observe the hues, value, and saturation, what is the range of each?
  4. How would you describe the style of the work? What does it remind you of?
  5. Does the layering and position of the different birds, fish and insects have any significance?
  6. Is their any connection between the different species?
  7. Any other questions you have or observations you’ve made….

Homework

  • Free-Study #2: Ben Snead: Using any materials you like, create a Free-Study based on Ben’s work. Your composition should reference the content, symmetry, saturation, and graphic – diagrammatic style.
  • Free-Study #1: Combined Saturation: Bring your previous free-study composition for critique.
  • Sketchbook: Questions/answers (above)

Class 20 | 11.10.09 | Free Studies

Materials Needed

  • all gouache paints from Supply List or Reeves Color Set
  • brushes, water containers, palette
  • ruler, t-square, exacto knife
  • pencils
  • 9×12″ bristol
  • glue
  • scraps (paper, photos, magazine images, fabric, candy wrappers, sandpaper, wrapping paper, etc. ) that have a broad range of value, saturation, and hue.

Critique:

Prismatic Color Studies #1 & #2

Discussion / Lab :

Saturation and the Illusion of Space

Spacial depth can be created with contrasts in saturation (chromatic gray, muted, prismatic color),  color temperature (cool/warm) and of course, value (light/dark).

  • Temperature: Cool colors (blue/violet) recede, warm colors (orange/yellow) come forward
  • Saturation: Chromatic grays and muted colors recede, prismatic colors come forward.
  • Value: Dark colors recede, light colors come forward.

Free Studies: Combined Saturation

  • Using your box-o-scraps and/or gouache paint create a 9×12″ composition of your choice that demonstrates the concepts we covered in our Saturation Studies, using Saturation and Value show some kind of spatial depth.
  • Use your own forms of expression and experiment with process: collage, stippling, tearing, cutting, direct painting, taping, stenciling, blotting.

Homework:

  • Complete your Free Studies assignment or create a second.
  • We MAY take a field trip on Friday. BE HERE ON TIME!

Class 19 | 11.06.09 | Prismatic Color

Critique:

  • Chromatic Gray Studies #1 & #2
  • Muted Color Studies #1 & #2

Discussion

Review Color Concepts (Class 15)

Prismatic Color Studies:

  • These colors are as pure a hue as possible using paints. Essentially these are hues that are straight from the tube. Please work with primary (red, yellow, blue) and secondary (orange, violet, and green) hues and their nearest neighbors (red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet). Do not use browns, blacks, grays or white.
  • The value of your prismatic colors is determined by its place on the color wheel not by adding darks or whites. Squint your eyes and look at the color wheel. The lightest colors are yellows, the darkest colors are violets. A prismatic study in high key will be created with yellows. A prismatic study in low key will be created with violets.

Prismatic Color Studies – Exercise #1:

  • Make a 6×6″ gouache, painted-paper collage using at least six shapes. All colors should be PRISMATIC with a BROAD value range (light and dark) from a BROAD range of hues (colors). The entire surface of your paper should be covered with paint.
  • Use scrap pieces of bristol to create your painted paper shapes. Cut these out with scissors or exacto knife.
  • Arrange your shapes until you achieve a unified composition and then carefully glue down your pieces.

Prismatic Color Studies – Exercise #2:

  • Make second 6×6″ gouache, painted-paper collage using at least six shapes. All colors should be PRISMATIC with a NARROW value range (high or low key).  This means you will either create a composition with prismatic yellows (high) or prismatic violets (low). The entire surface of your paper should be covered with paint.
  • Use scrap pieces of bristol to create your painted paper shapes. Cut these out with scissors or exacto knife.
  • Arrange your shapes until you achieve a unified composition and then carefully glue down your pieces.

Homework

  1. Finish ALL Saturation Studies:
    Make sure each composition is neatly mounted and protected with tracing paper or clean drawing paper.
    • Chromatic Gray Studies #1 & #2
    • Muted Color Studies #1 & #2
    • Prismatic Color Studies #1 & #2
  2. Bring in 2-D scraps (paper, photos, magazine images, fabric, candy wrappers, sandpaper, wrapping paper, etc. ) that have a broad range of value, saturation, and hue.  Bring enough “stuff” to fill a shoe box. Come prepared to explain the value, saturation, and hue of each scrap.
  3. Materials: same as this week, plus scrap box!

Class 17-18 | Muted Color Studies

Materials Needed

  • all gouache paints from Supply List or Reeves Color Set
  • brushes, water containers, palette
  • ruler, t-square, exacto knife
  • pencils
  • 9×12″ bristol
  • Flashdrive or CD with your digital painting

Lecture

REVIEW

  • Color Concepts and Vocabulary (see Week 15 & 16)

Critique

Chromatic Gray Studies #1 & #2

Lab

Muted Color Studies PREP:

  • Like the last study, mix together two containers or wells of chromatic darks .
  • Prepare 2 pieces of 9×12″ bristol by defining a 6×6″ square on each using your pencil and ruler.
  • Muted colors, which range from just outside the Prismatic zone to the most saturated Chromatic Grays, are created by adding a chromatic dark, complementary color, or white to a prismatic color.

Muted Color Studies – Exercise #1:

  • Make a 6×6″ gouache, painted-paper collage using at least six shapes. All colors should be MUTED with a BROAD value range (light and dark) from a BROAD range of hues (colors). The white paper is not considered a color – the entire surface should be covered with paint.
  • Use scrap pieces of bristol to create your painted paper shapes. Cut these out with scissors or exacto knife.
  • Starting with a Prismatic Color (paint straight from the tube) add either the complementary color, white, or pre-mixed chromatic darks to achieve your range of muted colors. Adding white will create a lighter value, adding a pre-mixed chromatic dark or complementary color will create darker value.
  • Arrange your shapes until you achieve a unified composition and then carefully glue down your pieces.

Muted Color Studies – Exercise #2:

  • Make second 6×6″ gouache, painted-paper collage using at least six shapes. All colors should be MUTED with a NARROW value range (high, middle, or low key) from a broad range of hues (colors). The white paper is not considered a color – the entire surface should be covered with paint.
  • IMPORTANT NOTES:
    • Yellow and its adjacent hues can be used to create high-key muted color compositions. They cannot be darkened enough to reach low-key without losing saturation and becoming Chromatic Grays.
    • Conversely, violet and its adjacent hues can not be lightened enough to reach the high-key value range without becoming Chromatic Grays.
    • Violet, Blue and Green can be used to create low-key muted colors compositions.

HINTS:

  • To prevent streaking, thoroughly mix paint before use, only adding enough water to get the consistency of cream.
  • Wash and dry your brush on a paper towel after each use.
  • At the end of  your painting session, paint out any extra paint onto scrap bristol for future use.

HOMEWORK

  • Finish Muted Color Studies #1 & #2

Class 16 | 10.27.09 | More Chromatic Gray Color Studies

Materials Needed

  • all gouache paints from Supply List or Reeves Color Set
  • brushes
  • ruler
  • t-square
  • pencils
  • 9×12″ bristol
  • Flashdrive or CD

Lecture

REVIEW

  • Color Concepts and Vocabulary from last class

Critique

Chromatic Gray Studies #1 & #2

Lab

Chromatic Gray Studies

  • Based on Crit, rework Studies #1 & #2

HOMEWORK

  • Finish/Rework both Chromatic Gray Studies #1 & #2 (based on Crit)
  • If you still haven’t finished and printed your Digital Painting Composition. DO IT. If you have questions or need help with Photoshop, ASK.

Class 15 | 10.23.09 | Color : Chromatic Gray Studies

Materials Needed

  • all gouache paints from Supply List or Reeves Color Set
  • brushes
  • ruler
  • t-square
  • pencils
  • 9×12″ bristol
  • Flashdrive or CD

Lecture

The Elements: basic components used as part of any composition, independent of the medium.

Color

  • Hue: Designates the common name of a color, determined by the specific wavelength of a ray of light and/or its position in the spectrum or color wheel.
  • Saturation: Refers to the relative purity of a color or its inherent light.
    Levels of Saturation
    • Prismatic Color: As pure a hue as possible with pigments/paint.
    • Muted Color: Colors that lie just outside the prismatic zone, created by adding black, white, gray or a complement of a hue.
    • Chromatic Gray: Grays that exhibit a subtle, but discernible hue, created by adding larger amounts black, white, gray or a complement of a hue.
    • Achromatic Gray: Grays that lack a perceptible hue and saturation.
  • Luminosity: Refers to Value; lighter colors are more luminous than darker colors, but a lighter color is not necessarily more saturated.
  • Primary Colors: Red, Yellow, Blue – three colors that cannot be created from mixtures of hue and when mixed in equal or unequal amounts can produce all possible colors.
  • Secondary Colors: Orange, Green, Violet – colors created by mixing equal proportions of any two Primary Colors.
    • orange  (mix red + yellow)
    • green   (mix yellow + blue)
    • violet    (mix blue + red)
  • Complementary Colors: Colors opposite on the color wheel
    • red and green
    • yellow and violet
    • blue and orange.

Lab

Exploration

Chromatic Gray Studies

  • Prep:
    • Mix together two containers or wells of chromatic darks using Ultramarine Blue and Raw Umber. One will be Warm and Brownish (more umber than blue) and one will be Cool and Blueish (more blue than umber). These will serve as your stock mixtures in order easily create a variety of Chromatic Grays by mixing with pure hues.
    • Prepare 2 pieces of 9×12″ bristol by defining a 6×6″ square on each using your pencil and ruler.
  • Exercise #1:
    • Make a 6×6″ gouache, painted-paper collage using at least six shapes. All colors should be chromatic gray with a BROAD value range (light and dark) from a broad range of hues (colors). The white paper is not considered a color – the entire surface should be covered with paint.
    • Use scrap pieces of bristol to create your painted paper shapes. Cut these out with scissors or exacto knife.
    • Starting with a very small amount of a Prismatic Color (paint straight from the tube) add either the complementary color, white, or pre-mixed chromatic darks to achieve your range of chromatic grays. Adding white will create lighter value grays, adding pre-mixed chromatic darks or complementary colors will create darker value grays.
    • The grays should have a discernable hue, but should lie closer to the center of the saturation spectrum (achromatic gray) than the outside (prismatic color).
    • Arrange your shapes until you achieve a unified composition and then carefully glue down your pieces.

    Exercise #2:

    • Make second 6×6″ gouache, painted-paper collage using at least six shapes. All colors should be chromatic gray with a NARROW value range (high, middle, or low key) from a broad range of hues (colors). The white paper is not considered a color – the entire surface should be covered with paint.

    HINTS:

    • To prevent streaking, thoroughly mix paint before use, only adding enough water to get the constency of cream.
    • Dry your brush on a pappe
    • At the end of  your painting session, paint out any extra paint onto scrap bristol for future use.

HOMEWORK

  • Finish both Chromatic Gray Studies #1 & #2
  • Purchase a basic Color Wheel from WC Art Supply or another Art Store.

Class 14 | 10.20.09 | Presentation & Part 2

Lab

Materials Needed:

  • 14×17″ bristol, glue stick, ruler, t-square
  • thumbdrive or CD

Assignment #3: Paintings Part 1: Mounting for Presentation (1 hour)

  • Using a 11×17″ piece of bristol, layout your two paintings and measure margins and gutter for each using your ruler and t-square. USE A HARD PENCIL – MARKS SHOULD BE VERY LIGHT AND ERASABLE.
  • Very carefully glue each square down using a thin layer of glue and with a clean piece of sketchbook paper press the square down gently.
  • Have a damp rag available to clean off your hands as you work. Do not let glue touch your paintings- gouache is not forgiving.
  • On another piece of bristol, repeat the process above and mount your photo-collage pieces. If your  photo-collages are mangled and messy, reprint, cut and mount the pieces.
  • Turn in both compositions next class.

Assignment #3: Paintings Part 2: PREP (1 hour)

  • If we can gain access, we will be working in the computer lab.
  • Open your photo-portrait file in Photoshop, and choose Image > Adjustments > Posterize. Set the Levels between 5 and 9.
  • Create a new file: 11″x8.5″, 300 pixels per inch, grayscale.
  • Save your file with your first initial and last name and the project title:
    For example: jsmith_value_added.psd
  • Using the rectangle marque tool:
    • set feather to 10px
    • style to Fixed Ratio 1 to 1
    • select portions of your original photo portrait and copy and paste them into the new document.
  • Vary the SCALE of your square selections in order to create a Broad Value Range composition that produces RHYTHM/REPETITION,  a sense of MOVEMENT, a clear understanding of changes in VALUE from white to black, and an understanding of EMPHASIS and VISUAL HIERARCHY.
  • Use layers and the Transform Tool (Command T) to rotate and rearrange your “collage” pieces.
  • Save frequently!!
  • If your file begins to grow to large (over 50MG), select and merge layers as appropriate to reduce the file size.
  • Save your file to your thumbdrive, CD or use a free file sharing service like 4Shared.
  • DO NOT USE OTHER FILTERS, COLOR, OR ANY OTHER TRANSFORMATION TOOLS.

Homework

ALL PARTS OF ASSIGNMENT #3 ARE DUE!

Use one of the following labs to complete and print your digital composition:

  • Learning Center Lab
    Atrium Ground Floor (AG 18)
    Lab Hours: Monday-Thursday: 10:00 a.m-8:45 pm, Friday: 10:00-6:45 pm, Saturday: 10 a.m-3:45 pm
  • Student Labs
    General Building 600
    Lab Hours: Monday-Thursday: 9:00 a.m-8:50 pm, Friday: 9:00 a.m-6:50 pm, Saturday: 10:00 a.m-5:50 pm
  • ADGA open labs
    (check with the office in N1113 for times)
  • Additional Labs and Hours

Class 13 | 10.16.09 | Work Class

Critique

Students will present both completed paintings to the class.

  • (1) Narrow Value Range: either high-key or low-key
  • (1) Broad Value Range

LAB

Work in class.

HOMEWORK

  • Complete first parts of Assignment #3: Value-Added Portraits (DUE Class 14)
    • Writing
    • Value Scale (original and reworked)
    • Collages (unmounted)
    • Paintings (unmounted)
  • We will continue with Assignment #3: Value-Added Portraits : Paintings (Part 2) in class next week -pending access to computer lab.

Class 12 | 10.13.09 | Work Class

Critique

Students will present one completed painting to the class.

  • (1) Narrow Value Range: either high-key or low-key
  • (1) Broad Value Range

Lab

Materials Needed:

  • black and white gouache, 9×12″ bristol, palette, water containers, rag, brushes, portrait collages

Assignment #3: Paintings Part 1

  • Work on your second painting (either Broad or Narrow Value composition)

Homework

  • Complete second painting (Due Class 13)
  • Materials needed: make sure you have purchased all gouache colors on materials list (or full color set). We may use them next class, depending on the status of the class assignments.

Class 11 | 10.09.09 | Work Class

Discussion

Critique

  1. Present your 2 photo-collages and re-worked Value Scale
  2. Class will determine the success with regard to the assignment guidelines.
    • (1) Narrow Value Range: either high-key or low-key
    • (1) Broad Value Range
    • Emphasis: create a focal point wherein one area or element is emphasized (even within the narrow range) through size, placement, value contrast, or isolation.

Assignment #3: NEXT STEP

  1. Collages:
    • Keep your photo-collage squares separate for now and in good shape. Make sure they are properly marked indicating the TOP and numbered from left to right, top to bottom.
  2. Paintings (Part 1):
    • For each composition, take a piece of 9×12″ bristol and in pencil measure out the size of your composition with a corresponding grid. You will be painting on these pieces, so keep them clean and neat.
    • Using your Value Scale as a guide, you will be recreating each photographic square using a range of black, white, and gray values, achieving continuous tone in areas where highlight and shadow blend together.
    • Do not worry about accurately rendering an eye, nose or ear, think only in terms of value, the boundaries of each value shape relationship.
    • Notice how some values crossover shape boundaries into adjoining areas (open-value), while others are limited by the edges of the shape (closed-value).
    • Work on each square independently, but refer back to the original overall composition as you work.
    • When you have completed each composition carefully protect all elements with a piece of clean sketchbook paper and cardboard.
    • We will mount both the original photographic collage and the painting together in class.

Lab

Meeting with Professor

  • Get approval from Professor, either in the critique or individually, before moving on to the painting phase.
  • After Professor’s review work in-class on the Paintings (due next class)

Homework

  1. Complete one of the two Paintings (DUE WEEK 12)
  2. Check website Monday night for supply list.