Final Crit Time!

To mark the end of the semester, our last class meeting on Wednesday will take the form of a group critique--with Painting II-- of everyone’s body of work from this semester.  You will all put up you own work for the group to discuss in turn.  Much of your work we will have already seen, of course, and as such I imagine that most of the discussion will be directed toward The Final Project and other work we have yet to see.

In addition to discussing painting, our final critique will also be a POTLUCK DINNER!  That means that everyone has signed up to bring a dish to pass, and we’ll eat and drink while discussing art.  What could possibly make a better afternoon?  If you for some reason missed class last week and you didn’t sign up for a food category, bring something anyway.  If you have a culinary specialty, we’d love to taste it!

Project Checklist (bring these paintings)

1.       Still-life

2.       Landscape

3.       Self portrait

4.       Abstract (Ab-Ex class)

5.       Abstract (hard-edge home)

6.       Figure (from in class)

7.       Open Final

Final Project!

Final Painting

You are to make a painting of any subject or genre for your final outside of class assignment.  Your painting may be any size appropriate for the subject/approach, and on a non-commercially produced support.    This is your capstone project, and therefore more important than your other projects. 

This painting is to be done outside of class, and it is due at final critique.

Helpful hints: 

--Choose a subject with color!

--Take some time to research some artists that might specialize in whatever genre you choose.  Whatever the genre, do some research!

--Make sure your painting is formally strong.  That is, make sure it is visually balanced, has interesting surface qualities, interesting visual rhyming scheme, etc.

Abstract Paintings: both in class and at home

Abstract Painting Assignment         ART 130       

Stevenson, professor

At home: Due Wednesday, November 28

In class: Final crit

Abstract Painting

The making of a successful abstract painting is not as much creating or making a painting as it is finding it.  A successful abstract painting is said to be resolved.  The process of resolving a painting can be unexpectedly quick, or excruciatingly slow.  It demands brutal self honesty and patience, and it cannot be crammed.  An abstract painting has a mind of its own that must be coaxed, not forced.  For a painting to be resolved, EVERY element of it must mesh and balance well with EVERY OTHER element.  It must simply work.

Decide on the elements of painting that you are interested in—Color? Line? Shape? Ab-ex spontaneous marks? Minimalist hard edged marks?  Something else? 

You are to make two (2) abstract paintings: one that we will work on in class, and one that you will work on at home by yourself.  Build formal compositions that are not recognizable as any specific subjects, but that utilize the elements of painting in which you are interested.    Simply make paintings that are resolved AND that you like the way they look.

In –Class painting: you are to embrace the process and aesthetic of the Ab-Ex (Abstract Expressionist) action painters.  You are to use thick, spontaneous, “passionate” brush marks that resolve into a balanced, heavily worked painting.  Let the painting dictate each move. 

At-Home painting: you are to embrace the minimalist aesthetic and design a hard-edged abstract painting.  This painting will necessarily be much more planned out.  The paint surface will probably be much less layered and heavily worked.  You are to resolve the painting just like the in class one, but it will demand a lot more designing on your part.  DO NOT simply settle for the first solution that comes to mind.  Instead, find the best one.

Look at Modern and Contemporary Masters who painted abstractly: Jackson Pollack, Willem de Kooning, Hans Hoffmann, Brice Marden, Cy Twombley, Helen Frankenthaler, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and one of my personal favorites, Richard Diebenkorn.  Remember that honesty is most important.  A painting either works or it doesn’t.  Keep working on your painting until it is resolved. Don’t call it finished if it’s not. No matter how much you might want an apple to be an orange, it’s still an apple.

Hints

Experiment.  Embrace accidents.  An abstract painter might have no idea what the final result will look like.  Try not to have an image in your head that you’re working toward.  Instead, let the painting decide what needs to happen next.

No Class this Week

So you obviously have a slight reprieve to your landscape due date.  We will critique the landscapes--and "finish" the self portraits-- next week.  Because you have 50 percent more time to work on them, I expect them to 50% better.  Air tight logic.

In all seriousness, I hope the post-Sandy aftermath finds you safe and sound, if a bit in the dark. Stay warm!

Addendum to Landscape Painting Assignment: Making Space

Making Space

Making a painting that depicts realistic space—from very shallow space (a few inches deep) to infinite space (the sky)--demands that you understand the relatively standard and consistent way color behaves in space, though there are always exceptions.  There are several principles that should be understood to use color, or aspects of color, to create the illusion of space.  Another thing should also be understood: that color is purely relative.  Something could look very warm or intense against one color, and relatively cool or broken against another.  What are important are the color relationships, about which the following principles speak.

1.         Value contrast tends to diminish as space recedes.  The darkest darks are under the rocks in the foreground, and then tend to lighten as the space deepens, lowering the contrast between the lights and darks in the background.  However, the lights in the background don’t get much darker, though they do get duller and less intense.   

2.         The cleanest and most saturated color advances to the foreground, leaving the broken colors to recede.  That means that even the objects with not very intense local colors can be brought forward by keeping them clean, even though they aren’t very intense.  The trick is to make sure that there are no complimentary colors mixed into that less chromatic foreground.  Complimentary colors are what make muddy grays and cause whatever they are added to recede.  To make an otherwise strong color less intense but still keep it advancing, match the tone of that color with a mixture of black and white and mix in that gray.  Your color will therefore not change its hue or value, only its chroma, keeping it clean.  Conversely, to make a color recede, dirty it somewhat by mixing in its complement.

3.         Aerial perspective--As any color gets further into the distance, there is of course more atmosphere between that color and you, in effect creating an “air filter”.  As we all know, air is evaporated water, and water tends to have a blue cast.  This means that color relationships viewed through the atmospheric filter get bluer and cooler (as well as less intense) as they get further and further away.  That’s why the distant tree covered hills look decidedly blue gray against the much closer fields and trees.

4.         Layering--The layers of paint underneath profoundly affect the appearance of the top layer of paint.  The final color of the paint is never just the pigments that were mixed together for the top layer, but the sum of all the color underneath as well.  Obviously, a thin layer of yellow paint will look green if put on a black under layer, but even “opaque” paint will be affected by what’s underneath, however subtly.  Colors painted over surfaces that are darker than those colors (however slightly) will instantly cool down, causing them to recede.  This is the reason that a neutral dark wall demands several coats of white paint—the first layer always looks blue.  Conversely, colors painted over surfaces that are lighter will tend to warm up and become more luminous, causing them to advance.   Watercolors look so luminous because almost all of them have the white of the paper showing through.  You end up seeing much more than the color of the paint itself.  A painting over an imprematura cannot be matched exactly over white for this reason.

More notes about layering and luminosity

One of the many things that the Old Masters knew and used extensively was this notion of layering.   One of the beauties of paint—especially oil paint—is that it can become so intense and luminous.  Squeezing out a glob of ultramarine blue and spreading it around on white canvas will give you an immediate sense of what I mean.  That blue that you now see on the canvas cannot be mixed.  It cannot be manufactured.  Yes, that blue was made from a manufactured paint, but you are not looking at merely ultramarine blue.  Because the nature of ultramarine is so transparent, you are looking at the blue with the pure white underneath showing through.  You could squeeze color from that same tube onto a gray or black or even blue ground, but you will not be able to get a blue of even a similar intensity.  In the same way, any color with white showing through—a clean or broken color--is not simply the hue from your palette.  It’s a combination of that hue plus the white showing through.  Nor can you get the same color by putting together the hue and white by mixing—you’ll just get an opaque, much grayer color.  A combination of colors by layering is not the same as a combination by mixing.  Layering a transparent darker color over any lighter color (not just white) will almost invariably produce a more luminous color than mixing the two together.

One of the best examples is in the color raw umber.  By itself over white can produce a very rich, warm brown.  Mixing umber and white together, however makes an extremely neutral gray.  The difference is remarkable.  An example of layering over a color other than white to get a luminous color combo might be to glaze a red over yellow to get an intense orange.  You cannot mix the resulting orange even with the same pigments.  To get a rich gray you might consider layering transparent compliments instead of mixing them together.  This is a great way to create space by breaking color while keeping things rich and not muddy.

I mentioned that the Old Masters used layering and luminosity.  Examples can be seen in many of the 17^th Century Dutch landscapes.  At that time they did not have access to the many different pigments and hues that we have to work with now, in the early 21^st Century.  They might have only had red earth, green earth, Naples yellow, possibly azurite (any of the blues tended to be very expensive), black, and white.   To make up for this dearth of hue options, they had to use all the different aspects of each color to the greatest extent possible.  So in areas that you (as the painter) might want the foreground to come forward you will need to keep those areas clean and luminous.  Broken colors will, in turn, recede into space.  Some of the Dutch landscapes have used only red and green earth in the whole foreground, but by varying its transparency, color intensity, and “chromatic hygiene”(clean color) as well as flawless drawing these paintings seem to lay down beautifully.  Some even made “blue” sky from simply making a neutral gray from black and white, but since you see it against the warm luminous colors of the foreground it seems very blue.

Landscape Assignment

Due In two weeks: Oct. 31st

You are to make a landscape painting in oil that is at least 8x10 (that is: the short side may be no smaller than 8”, and the longer side may be no smaller than 10. You must make your own support.

This project is all about making space—or the illusion of it.  It’s also about controlling color relationships in terms of contrast and “chromatic hygiene” (high contrast advances low contrast recedes, and clean color advances and broken color recedes).

The subject may be of anything as long as it is (mostly) outside and includes close foreground and fairly deep space.  If you work outside from life (the preferred way of working for most landscape painters), you will find that the light will change--the sun tends to move if you hadn’t noticed--during the time you are working, so you have to paint quickly and plan to come back to the same spot at the same time for two or more days.  I’d suggest making either a sunny day painting or a cloudy day painting if you choose a daytime painting.  If you start a painting sunny and finish it cloudy you will drive yourself crazy and you’ll end up with a confusing result.  Trust me!

I strongly encourage you to choose a moment in your painting to be what the painting is about, and then make everything else in the painting merely support that moment.   Don’t just paint a scene.  Also, don’t make a “pretty” painting.  “Pretty” is bad. 

Hints

*Remember the different ways to create the illusion of space:

1-clean colors advance, and broken colors recede.

2-high contrast and hard edges advance, low contrast and soft edges         recede.

3-saturated colors advance, less intense colors recede

*Squint a lot.  This will force you to simplify. 

*Don’t forget your drawing skills.  Make sure your perspective works.

*Values tend to be very high outdoors.  The sun tends to eat away the darks and we find that they are relatively light (though still darker than the lights).  What at first glance seems like a value contrast might be more of an intensity contrast or temperature contrast.

*Research ideas from the old or contemporary masters—try to paint like them!

*Lastly, decide your approach BEFORE the painting begins, and stick to it (which of the four?)!

Self-Portraits this week!

So I mentioned this in class, but here's a reminder.  This week we are starting to work on our self portraits.  We will work from a mirror (no photos), and you must do your best to paint what you see--for the figure anyway.  The minimum size is 16 x 20, and of course you must have prepared it yourself.  We will work on your painting in class for the next three class periods, but after that you must finish it on your own so they will be finished by final critique.

Be thinking about how you want to project yourself to the world.  What will you be wearing?  Any props?  What background will you include?  Make it interesting!  Also, what painting approach will you use?  Which makes the most sense to you?

See you Wednesday!

For next week: Canvas Stretching!

after the still-life critique, I'll show you how to stretch a canvas and prepare a panel to paint on next week.  Below is a primer on canvas stretching, plus a list of materials needed.  Much of it you can borrow from me if you don't mind waiting in line, but you will have to provide a few things.

How to Stretch a Canvas

What you need (if possible get this stuff from Utrecht or Jerry’s and let them know you’re in this class):

• Stretchers (not to be confused with strainers)—make sure they fit together snugly and that opposite sides are of equal length, ensuring a proper rectangle
• Canvas*—make sure you have at least 3 or 4 inches or so of extra canvas beyond the edge of the stretchers.
• Scissors**
• Staple gun **
• ¼ to 3/8 inch staples (my staple guns take JT-21 staples)
• Tape measure**
• Acrylic gesso (if you are using unprimed canvas)
• Sand paper or sanding sponge*
• Canvas pliers (optional, but recommended)**
• house painting brush 2 inch (or so) **
• skinny flat screw driver and/or needle nosed pliers; (for prying out errant staples)*
• Stretcher keys
• Tack hammer**

*A heavy canvas drop cloth from a paint store often does very well in lieu of “art” canvas—much cheaper, too!

** You may possibly share these items with others

At the very least, you should bring in your own canvas, stretchers, gesso, and JT21 size staples (they fit my staple guns).  You can borrow just about everything else.

Directions

To start out, unfold or unroll and lay out your canvas on a flat, clean surface face down.  It should be cut large enough to comfortably fit over the stretchers to the back inside edge.  Fit the stretchers together to make the desired rectangle (be sure that your rectangle has exactly square [90 degree] angles—don’t stretch a trapezoid!).

After making sure that the weave of the canvas is parallel to the stretchers, carefully fold the canvas around to the back each stretcher and put a single staple in the center of each, making a cross.  The canvas should be “finger taut” between the staples.

After making sure the stretchers are still square (measure the diagonals), start from the staple in the middle of each stretcher and staple down one side of the stretcher to the corner while pulling the canvas finger tight (pull it tight enough to ensure that the weave is still parallel to the stretcher).  Do this on only one side of the center staple.  By working from the center to one corner you will end up completing half of the stretcher.   Do all four sides but make sure that you always do the same side of the staple each time.   When this is completed the staples will resemble a pinwheel or swastika shape.

Now that the canvas is halfway stretched, the tightness of the canvas becomes more important.  As you work your way down the other side of each stretcher, you will realize that you are now pulling against the part of the opposite stretcher that is already stapled.  It is at this point that you can start to pull the canvas as tight and evenly as possible (canvas pliers will become a welcome time saver and knuckle protector).  Work your way down the unfinished side from the middle staple, ensuring that there are no wrinkles between staples. Always work from the middle to the corners.   Excess canvas can be dealt with at the corners.  Also do your best to keep the weave of the canvas parallel to the stretchers.

Once you have finished all four sides of the stretchers and after having made sure that everything is still square, evenly taut (no wrinkles or dead areas), and passes the quarter test, it is time to finish the corners.  The key to good corners is neatness and cleanness.  There are several ways to do them cleanly, and you may need to devise your own way, but I find that if you just make sure that the visible fold goes down along the corner of the stretcher, the rest will take care of itself—as long as it’s neat and clean!  There is no point in doing a nice painting if your support is shotty, you know?  Take pride in your handiwork.

Once the canvas is stretched evenly with the corners finished cleanly, the canvas is still not ready to be painted . . . it needs to be sized/primed.  Acrylic “gesso” is the simplest and most common way of sizing a canvas.  Brush the first coat on liberally with a house painting brush, and sand it lightly after it dries completely.  Put at least one more liberal coat of gesso on after this one, sanding between each coat, but do not sand the top coat.  It’s usual to make the brush strokes parallel to the weave of the canvas, with each subsequent coat being perpendicular to the previous one.  Also, be sure to gesso the side of the stretcher as well, both to protect the weave and for a cleaner look.  Give the top coat of gesso at least an overnight to fully cure, and the canvas is ready to use.

Eventually, no matter how taut your canvas is when you stretched it; due to atmospheric conditions it will relax and start to wrinkle or get wavy.  To make the canvas taut again, with a tack hammer lightly tap some stretcher keys (little plastic or wooden wedges designed for the purpose) into the slots on each inside corner of the stretchers.  Working around the stretcher, give a few taps to each key so that they slowly tighten up together.   This will force all the corners to expand enough to take up any slack that the relaxed canvas offers, resulting in retightened canvas.  Be careful not to tighten any corner more than the others, as this will cause the canvas to go out of square.  Good luck and happy painting!

This semester we will make 7 paintings (not including the color and approach exercises).  Except for the first still-life, you are to make them all on non-commercially produced supports, and at least one is to be done on a stretched canvas.  If you are interested in planning ahead and buying supplies for all seven at once, here are the size ranges you will need:

1. (self-portrait): 16x20-24x30
2. (landscape): 8x10-11x14
3. (in class Abstract) minimum 18x24
4. (at home Abstract) no size restrictions
5. (in-class figure) 11x14-16x20
6. (final project): no size restrictions

Art Club Meeting on Thursday!

So tomorrow is our first Art Club meeting!  All art students are automatic members of the Art Club, so come and take part.  Please show up at High Noon (that is, 12:00 pm) in FA115!  We'll elect officers, discuss possible activities, and talk about ART.

Still-Life Painting Assignment

Outside of Class Painting #1 ART 130

Due two weeks from now: October 10^th.

You are to set up a still life outside of class with at least three colorful, interesting, and related objects. 

The Rules:

·        Use any of the four approaches that we have (or will have) gone over in class

·        Your objects must be related

·        You must make sure that you paint LIFE SIZE or larger

·        Set it up so that you have a strong light source, and always paint at the same time of day.

·        Your subject must be at or just below the viewer’s eye level.

·        Do not crop (or even crowd) your objects, though they may overlap.  Choose a subject small enough to fit easily on your support, and arrange the subject to justify your rectangle shape.

·        Your painting may be no smaller than 9x12 and no larger than 11x14 on any support appropriate for oil painting

·        You must not say “But I don’t have anything interesting to paint. . . “Poppycock!!!  Find a way!  Thinking that way is simply lazy.

Helpful hints

·        Take some time to research some artists that specialized in, or otherwise mastered, still life painting.  Try to paint like them. Fairfield Porter, Janet Fish, William Bailey, Chardin, De Heem, Caravaggio, Emil Carlson, Tom Buechner, Manet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Georgia O’Keefe, Picasso, Giorgio Morandi. . .all come to mind.  Ask yourself: “How would they do it?”

·        Feel free to bring your partially finished paintings into class for feedback before the due date

Four Approaches to Painting

Four different Approaches to Painting       ART130

Stevenson, Professor

This series of projects is to be completed over the next several class periods on four different 9x12 canvas board panels.  What you do not finish in class you will be expected to finish outside of class using a photographic reference and/or information from your existing paintings. Each panel will have a similar subject (6 colorful objects) and composition to the others, but each will be done using a different painting approach from the others. 

Panel #1--Indirect painting

You are to make a grisaille (pronounced grizz-eye) of the still life.  Use only ivory black and titanium white.  Mix a light middle gray to be the darkest value, and render the still life using a range of light grays. Be sure to keep your values on the high side, and to keep things simple.  Detail can be articulated later.  When the grisaille has dried fully, glaze over each object with the appropriate color.  Using this stage as a point of departure, seek to finish the painting by finding areas that need more of a mixed color or direct approach.

Panel #2—Direct approach using directly mixed color

This approach is very simple.  After making a detailed drawing using a hard pencil (this should take you much longer than the other drawings, and works best if you think of it as a “paint by number”), simply mix and paint the still life directly. There should be one layer of paint—not two or three as in all the other approaches.  There is no restriction on the use of white or any other color.  Simply determine what the final perceived color is by taking into account the local color and the color of the light.  I suggest starting somewhere in the middle of the composition and expanding out from there.  Simple, but not easy!

Panel #3—Direct approach on imprematura ground

Cover a clean panel with a layer of middle gray oil paint (get it into ALL the nooks and crannies of the panel). Do not cut the paint with any mineral spirits, though you may mix in a tiny bit of Liquin to speed the drying time. When the panel is covered, wipe off as much paint as possible.  The result will be more of a stain than a layer of paint.  This is called a ground color, or imprematura.  Do not start this approach until the gray imprematura ground is completely dry.  Loosely block in the drawing using a hard pencil.  Then, using a warm, dark color, block in the general dark shapes.  This approach demands that the painting be separated into darks (usually warm), middle tones (usually cool), and lights (usually warm).  Once the darks are blocked in with transparent warm colors, mix the more opaque middle tones and lights and block them in.  Wherever the color of the ground is correct just leave it showing through.

Panel #4—Indirect approach using “custom” imprematura

Using a hard pencil, loosely block in the drawing on a clean, white panel.  Then, making sure to USE NO WHITE PAINT(because it makes colors opaque and grayish looking), directly block in the appropriate colors using mineral spirits washes (hint: be sure to be accurate, taking into account reflected light as well as local color, but always err on the colorful side.  In other words, if you see a hint of a color, bring it out as much a possible).  If a color is very light, make the wash very transparent, using the white of the canvas instead of mixing tints.  Once all the white of the canvas is covered and the washes are finished to your satisfaction, then you may mix opaque colors to cover the parts of the washes that do not work.  Be sure the let the wash color show if it turns out to be the right color.  Note the way the wash color seems very luminous and intense compared to the mixed opaque colors.  Use these relation-ships to your advantage!

Assignment #2: The Three Eggs

Three Idealized Objects

The project is due in two weeks

As was discussed in class, the color theory displayed in your color chart shows that each of our major hues achieves its highest intensity at a certain point on the value scale.  In real life color on form tends to act this way as well.  For example, on a bright yellow object, the shadows cannot be as saturated as the light areas because of how yellow behaves in light and shadow.  In the same way, on a blue object the shadows appear more saturated than the light areas (even if the local color is a light blue).

For this exercise, you are to make simple paintings of ovoid forms (also called eggs).  For each one you are to choose a primary or secondary color and paint each form as if it was illuminated by a neutral, full spectrum spotlight.  To do this, theorize where the lights and shadow should be (including highlights, core shadow, and reflected light), and place the tints, shades, and the pure color where they would appear according to your color chart.  The goal is to make each spherical or ovoid colored object convincing as it might exist in space.   The attached diagram describing light and shadow on a sphere should help you decide where each value should go.  Be sure to include the cast shadows.

In short, first figure out where the light and shadow goes, and then fill it in as you would the color chart.

Color Chart is due next week!

Remember that you need to have your color charts finished for next Wednesday.  If they are still wet, that's okay.

Color Notes (read this before you start your color chart)

THE NATURE OF COLOR

Painting I

Stevenson

Color breaks down into three parts:

1.                   Value—the lightness or darkness of a color; how close is it to black or white?

2.                   Hue—the title of a color: yellow, red, blue, brown, etc.

3.                   Chroma—the strength or intensity of a color; also called saturation.

So, if any one of these elements changes from one color sample to another, then those two colors are technically not the same.  For instance, if the value and hue are the same, but the chroma is slightly more or less, then the colors being compared are different.   In the same way, two colors can actually be closer in nature than they initially appear by having the hue and chroma similar but the value much different.

Black and White

It is also important to note that black and white hues theoretically do not have chroma, only value.  Therefore they cannot be considered true colors (even though we tend to refer to them as such).  A color mixed with black is called a shade, color mixed with white is called a tint, and color mixed with a combination of black and white (achromatic gray, explained below) is called a tone.  The thing about black and white not being true colors is that a tint or a shade of any color is a change to that color’s value without changing that color’s hue.  It will also change the color’s intensity/chroma by diluting the pigment in the paint, and therefore making it less chromatically saturated or intense.  The density of a pigment suspension in oil paint is pretty much directly related to that color’s intensity.   Because of this, a color is at its highest intensity straight out of the tube, so a color mixed from two different pigments cannot be as chromatic as the pigments on their own.

Chroma at Value

Another thing that you will come be aware of is that each hue reaches its highest intensity at a different value.  Yellow is at its highest saturation at a very high key, whereas blue and violet are at their highest at a very low value.  Green, I think, is surprisingly high, similar to orange, which are both a little higher than red (though not much).  Earth tones tend to come from either broken prismatic (pure) colors or dark shades of high key hues.

It is worth noting that as shades of yellow darken—with more black added—the color that results looks green, even though the hue is still technically  yellow and hasn’t changed at all.  As more black is added to orange—without changing the hue—it gets brown.

Grays

There are basically two types of grays: “achromatic” grays and “chromatic” grays.  Achromatic grays are literally grays without any color, that is, they don’t have hue and or intensity, only value.  They are grays made by mixing black and white.  Chromatic grays are, not surprisingly, grays with color, or grays that involve mixing complimentary colors (and possibly white and/or black).  The range of chromatic grays is almost infinite, and a color is considered a chromatic gray as long it is at least slightly broken, or mixed with a compliment.  You can have a gray that is mixed with equal parts of red and green to make a very broken color that is close to the center of the color wheel, or one made of very unequal parts closer to the edge of the color wheel.  For instance, any blue that has even the slightest bit of orange in it is really a chromatic gray, because it is at least slightly broken by the orange.  It could still look extremely blue, especially if it’s put up against a much more broken or contrasting color, but it is a “gray” nonetheless.  So, paintings that look intensely colorful are often merely made up of chromatic grays.

Assignment #1: Color Chart

ART 130 Painting I

Assignment #1 Color mixing

Stevenson, professor

You are to make a color chart illustrating the three parts of color: chroma, hue, value.  Use the posted “Color Notes” for reference, if needed.  Divide an 18x24 canvas board into six equal sections. Each section belongs to either one of the primary or secondary colors (red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange). On the left side of each labeled section, lightly draw two vertical columns of roughly one half inch squares (see example page 1).

*************************************************************************

In the left hand vertical column of each section, mix an even step sequence of ten gray tones from off white to off black and place it in order.  The lightest tone should be on top and the darkest tone should be on the bottom.  In all, make 6 identical gray tonal scales—one in each section as described on example page 4.  To the right of each gray tonal scale there should be a blank vertical column

 (These will be the color columns).  Be sure to mix enough of each gray to fill in the left columns in all six sections.  By the beginning of class next week you are to get up to this point.  If you do not have the value columns finished you will not be able to get an A on this project.

Once the gray scales are completed, compare the corresponding pure hue (cadmium red light, cobalt blue, etc.) to the gray scale and decide which box most closely resembles the value of the pure hue.  For example, Cadmium Yellow Light has a very high value and will therefore be placed near the top of the gray scale, whereas Cobalt Blue is much darker and will be much placed much lower on the column.  In each color column, fill in the box next to the correct value with the pure hue.  As described on example page 5, mix the appropriate tints or shades of each color to match the ascending or descending values of the gray tonal scales next to each color tonal scale.

On the right side of the color column in each section construct a row of the appropriate number of (4 to 8) connected squares of similar size attached to where you decided to put the pure color block (see example page 2).  Construct a second row of squares unattached to the vertical stack in the open space to right of the columns. Use the same number of blocks as in the example.  Be sure each unattached row has the same number of squares as its attached counterpart. 

Now, at the value where each pure color finds itself to be the highest chroma, attach the horizontal row (mentioned above) and mix a row of tones in descending order from the highest chroma to neutral chroma.  Be sure that the value of these tones remains constant.

So far, the hues within each section have not changed at all—only the value and the intensity of the colors.

In the remaining unattached row of boxes you are to start with the pure color on the left, and then make a gradation of steps of descending chroma (but constant value) by “breaking” both the hue and intensity of the color by using the appropriate color complement (for example, in the red section gradually mix in green to eventually make a neutral color—but be sure to do it in the correct number of steps).  In sections where this will also affect the value of the resulting color, use the tint or shade of the complement that most closely corresponds to the value of the color.  So to keep each unattached row a constant value, you will have to mix in the appropriate tint or shade of the compliment, not the pure color (in the yellow section for example you would probably use the second highest purple tint). 

A large part of the grade will come from issues of craftsmanship.  Be sure to keep it as neat and clean as possible.  Be sure to make the transitions from one box to the next as clean and sharp as possible.  Also, do NOT use white paint to cover up smears and errant marks on the remaining white areas of the panel.  Instead, wipe off the marks with an eraser or spirits soaked rag (or don’t make them in the first place).  Good luck.

For the beginning of class on Wednesday you are to have the six sections laid out with all twelve columns of ten boxes drawn in as shown on the first example sheet.  If you do not have this done or are in any way unprepared, the best you will be able to get in this assignment is a B.

Artist Presentation Guidelines

Painting I

ARTIST PRESENTATION CRITERIA
Kyle Stevenson, professor

Instructions:
You are to sign up for an artist (sign-up sheet is going around) on a specified date to give a 5-10 minute presentation to the rest of class.  You will need to collect images and know your artist well enough to discuss their work in a conversational manner.  I will not collect a written report.  In order to get an A*, you may not have written notes--it must be completely oral!  Your grade will depend on the quality of your research and image collecting and delivering your material in a direct and succinct way.

Questions to address when researching your Artist Presentation:

1. What is the Artist’s Background? (1-2 minutes)
                                    A. Where are they from?
                                    B. What time period were they alive and making work?

C. What Cultural Events/ Environments were affecting their art?

2. Collect 10 to 15 visual examples of their work for us to look at while you are presenting. (3-5 minutes)

A. Use digital images from the internet or that you have scanned (preferably jpegs or a PowerPoint presentation).  

B. If you are not using PowerPoint, name and number the images in the order you want to present them and save them on a CD or a flash drive or arrange to email them to me. 

C. Please get your images to me the class before you present.

D. Your images should be large enough to cover most of a 600x800 pixel screen with a minimum 72 dpi.  Artcyclopedia.com, artrenewal.org, and artnet.com are all great websites for image collecting.

You must know the names and approximate dates of all the works you choose, and be able to elaborate on 1 or 2 of your artist’s most important art works by discussing the important elements contained in each.  Explain why these works were important to history or their career.
           
3. What main elements are important to looking at and understanding their artwork or process (1-2 minutes)?

4. Do you like their work? Why or Why not (1-2 minutes)?

The Rules

*In order to get an A, you may NOT . . .

·          . . . Read from any notes or consult a cheat sheet.

·         . . . Have any PowerPoint slides (or jpegs) of text.  You may have some text on image slides, but the majority of the slide must be the image.

·          . . . Take more than 10 minutes.  I will have a timer and warn you when you are getting close, but you must finish before 10 minutes, not merely stop.

·          . . . Have poor quality images (see above image specs) or inaccurate information.

·         . . . Deviate from the directions in any way.

Breaking any of the above rules will result in a full letter grade deduction per rule broken.

Syllabus and Materials list

ART 130 – Painting I @ Mercer County Community College

Kyle M. Stevenson, professor

Office: ET 124; email: stevensk@mccc.edu; or kylestevenson@yahoo.com

Blog: www.professorkylestevensonpaintingone.blogspot.com

Office hours: TBA

Course goals and objectives:

The student will begin to formulate his/her conceptual direction in painting by completing assigned projects and imposed goals to the satisfaction of the professor.  The student will begin to develop an understanding of the working of paint to make surfaces and images, what to do with those surfaces and images, and how those surfaces and images might fit into the context of the artistic canon.  There should be no particular interest in developing a prescribed style of painting at this point.  The student will also learn to work in a community of “artists”, carrying an ongoing dialogue with the professor and each other in the form of critiques and more informal discussions, and applying those discussions to his/her own work.

Evaluation

Each student will complete a series of assigned paintings and projects in order.  Each project is designed to build upon the last, so if a project is missed or for any reason incomplete, success in subsequent projects is substantially lessened.   “Success” will be judged by the professor, according to how the project meets the goals stated at the assignment of the project. The aim is for the student to explore the stated goals above and to discover his/her own strengths and weaknesses, using the former as a foundation and improving upon the latter. Attention will be paid to making work with solid composition, quality paint handling, and conceptual strength.  The class work should be considered more as projects or exercises than works of art.  With that in mind, the more open to experimentation and risks the student can be, the greater the chance for success and personal growth since a large part of the goals for each project is based on content and is conceptual in nature.  Perhaps more than anything else, art making as a concept is a process of inquiry, and not a series of hoops through which to jump.  That having been said, there will still be the necessary evil of having grades assigned to each project, though improvement and personal discovery (a result of risk taking and experimentation) will be factored in to grading.

Each project will receive a letter grade and related rubric after the critique at which it is due.  A final project will be due at the end of the semester that will integrate many of the concepts covered throughout the class, and will therefore act as a culmination project representing your entire body of work for the course.  This project will necessarily be worth more than the rest of the projects in the semester.  50% of final grade will be calculated from the average of the class projects, with the final project taking another 20%.  Class participation in the form of involvement in critique, class discussion, attitude, reception to criticism, punctuality and preparedness, etc., is another 20%, and Artist Presentations take up the last 10%.  With all this in mind, the grade chart is as follows:

Projects                                  50%

Final Project                          20%

Participation                          20%

Presentation                          10%

Late Projects

My policy for late projects is as follows:  you are allowed to hand in two projects after they are due without penalty.  After those two, any more late projects will simply not be accepted.  But, the time window to hand in those two lates is not infinite.  You have two class periods from the date and time it is due to hand it in; after that it will not be accepted.

Attendance

This class will meet 15 times throughout the term.  Attendance and the constructive use of time, both in and out of class, are essential.  Class is your time to work in an environment where you have access to me and your classmates.  Take advantage of this as it will greatly inform the time spent painting outside of class.  However, I do not have an absence policy to speak of.  You’re showing up to class ready to work will be reflected in your project and participation grades.  If you miss a lecture or lesson for some reason, DO NOT expect me to give you a private tutoring session getting you up to speed (get the info from a classmate instead).  It is your responsibility to attend class, and it’s presumptive of you to expect me to repeat myself when you’ve failed in your responsibilities.  There will be several demonstrations and slide image lectures during the term.  In order to benefit from the information and as a courtesy to your peers and myself, please be in class and set up to work at the beginning of class.  

Finally, as we all come to this class with different experience, ability, and confidence, it is essential that you treat me, each other, this course and studio with respect.  Failing to do so will result in your dismissal from class.

Materials List

-tool box or case in which to keep your supplies

-wooden or plastic palette (no glass)

-pencil and straight edge

-masking/painters tape

-metal palette knife, good quality with a bent shank; trowel shaped

-Bounty or Viva brand paper towels as needed

-non-glass container with lid and a label stating what’s in it, e.g. a medium sized coffee can is fine

-one shallow can, cat food or tuna fish size that fits inside the coffee can

-plastic or tin pan (contains spills from above can)

-small bottle of Windsor & Newton Liquin

-2 canvas boards, 18x24. 

-4 canvas boards, 9x12.

-Paint—must have these specific colors!  Though you can certainly have others as well. . .

·         alizarin crimson

·         cadmium red medium (or cadmium red hue)

·         cadmium yellow light (or cadmium yellow hue)

·         cadmium orange (or cadmium orange hue)

·         yellow ochre

·         cobalt blue (or cobalt blue hue)

·         cadmium green or permanent green light

·         dioxazine, quinacridone or manganese purple/violet

·         ivory black

·         titanium white—large tube

                                *for all the colors except white buy tubes that are at least 37ml.  The tube of                                        white should be 130ml to 200ml

-Brushes—you will need to buy bristle brushes in a range of sizes and shapes:

Flats—small, medium, large;

Filberts—small, medium, large—at least one of each of these. 

It’s much more cost effective to buy good quality brushes!  In this case you are only as good as your equipment.  I will speak more about brushes and paint in class.

               

Additional supplies for stretching canvas

It is certainly possible to paint for an entire career without ever having stretched your own canvas.  It is often possible to buy pre-stretched canvases for very reasonable prices, making the time and effort used to stretch a canvas unnecessary.  However, when cash is much scarcer than time or energy it is very important to have the tools and knowledge to stretch a canvas well.  Therefore, this semester you will have to stretch and size a canvas or prepare a panel for all of your paintings-- after I show you how to do it.  This is what you will need when the time comes:

-staple gun *

-a box of ¼” to 3/8” staples for the above *

-stretcher bars of appropriate sizes

-cotton duck "canvas" 8 to 12 oz. (width and length as needed)

-1 quart of acrylic gesso

-2" decent quality house painting brush

-canvas pliers are suggested, but not mandatory (though your knuckles will thank you) *

-tape measure *

*I have some available to borrow, but to avoid waiting you might do well to get your own