Studio Concentration: Art and Innovation, Lessons in Seeing and Understanding Painting

Studio Concentration: Art and Innovation, Lessons in Seeing and Understanding Painting

Weeklong Workshop | This program is completed

1501 10th Ave East Seattle, WA 98102 United States

TBD

Intermediate

8/3/2020-8/24/2020

9:30 AM-4:30 PM PDT on Mon Tue

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$850.00

$765.00

$10.00

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"Searching for An Additional Reality
This class is held on Mondays and Tuesdays throughout August.
An additional reality is a characteristic effect of a work of art. In some paintings we see and sense this immediately - others require intelligent observational skills to see and understand beyond an image or picture. We need to see beyond skillful representation in most contemporary painting relevant to our time. We start with Cezanne, most prominent among others, who taught us to see and appreciate more the fact of painting application as well as the interactions of all the elements whereby one and one make three or more. The sum greater than the parts. An intellectual exercise much like chess; aware of the board and all the possibilities inherent in the interaction of the pieces. Each looking seeing more. You will be guided through a series of exercises to be able to see and understand more of what is actually happening in your and other’s work as in Cubism or Abstract Expressionism. A final emphasis on Bay Area Abstraction Painting as an easier entry. Experience required, intermediate or advanced. Instructor will meet with the students through Zoom on the mornings of class for lecture and demo and to assign projects. Individual and group critiques will be set up by the instructor throughout the time of the workshop. Instuctor will be available for questions from students throughout workshop days."

  • Thank you for taking this class. I believe you will find it a little more unusual than my regular classes and a wider range of art as we get down to basic art knowledge.
  • Right off I would like you to listen to Wagner’s “Forest Murmurs” before we begin. Try and let your mind experience the sounds not only as music but as color. This idea, synesthesia, was a popular idea when he was composing as was opera being a complete experience; visual, aural, and emotional being the main parts. He was a favorite of the French Expressionists as well for obvious reasons. This music is from Siegfried Act II, when he wakes from sleeping in the forest and listens and looks, experiencing all about him. There is vocal music in the opera but not in this.
  • Please also the first day of class, relax and experience this again - color and form in your mind’s eye. Before we begin. It will be part of your first day experience.
  • Forest Murmurs - Siegfried Act II - Wagner - Nature - YouTube 8:39
  • Since you are either advanced or intermediate students you no doubt have most of your painting materials. If you paint in oils, please use a dryer with a medium already it for class exercises. Many regular mediums are fast enough.
  • If you paint in acrylics, you my need an extender to keep them wet longer.
  • Basic COLOR palette from which most colors can be mixed. Please have these.
  • I am using generic names rather than brand names for easier identity.
  • 1. WHITE - a true plain white please. Titanium is the most opaque.
  • 2. BLACK - true, neutral black such as Ivory. Or it is easily mixed.
  • 3. YELLOW- LEMON yellow for greenish,
  • 4. CADMIUM Yellow LIGHT for orange-ish.
  • 5. CADMIUM RED MEDIUM or any very bright true red.
  • 6. ORANGE as bright and clean as you can find.
  • 7. ALIZARIN CRIMSON
  • 8. DIOXAZINE PURPLE
  • 9. COBALT BLUE, ULTRAMARINE BLUE and THALO BLUE (3)
  • 10. THALO GREEN Plain green or if you cannot find it, Bluish Green.
  • 11. PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT
  • 12. BROWNS - both BURNT UMBER and BURNT SIENNA
  • 13. QUINACRIDONE CORAL
  • Those not listed such as Terra Verde and Viridian, and most any thing else are easily mixed from above. All other colors, whatever your choice, may be used.
  • BRUSHES
  • Please have any and all brushes handy, and be sure to have a RIGGER, or as it sometimes is called, LINER brush. A round fine hair brush, long and very thin coming to a distinct point to make fine lines on a painting.
  • Also desirable, two cheap bristle brushes from the Hardware Store. Small, each around a dollar and a half, one 1inch, and one, 1 1/2 inches wide.
  • A larger cheap house painter’s brush about 2 -3 inches wide for Large areas and brushstrokes.
  • SURFACES to paint on - your choice mostly. But for specific exercises I would like;
  • Three sheets of heavy SMOOTH SURFACE Watercolor Paper, primed for oil should you use it, put on smoothly please. Left alone if a water medium, Approx. 9”X12” minimum size.
  • Four canvas surfaces, two raw as found; the other two tinted a medium Burnt Umber, thinly applied but to a medium tone about 5,6,or 7 out of ten (being the darkest value) to allow the canvas weave to be rough and important. No glue, no ground on the surface. Either stretched or glued on cardboard. A slightly diluted with warm water Elmer’s glue or acrylic medium is good for this.
  • One Larger Canvas, or other suitable surface in a size you are comfortable with and will work on for the last two sessions. There will be a week between classes allowing the paint to dry or close to it. 38” X 38” is ideal. I would like a square format. You will have the choice of a clothed female model or landscape; both complex compositions.
  • Three sheets of white drawing paper thirty inches in one dimension, the other is your choice for a drawing of a large and complex still life and sketches, using three colored drawing tools - dry pastel, conte crayon, etc. your choice that can be smeared and easily erased. Black, Warm Brown and White. You will need also a tall piece of foam core or blank white wall background that will take push pins for this tonal drawing. You may use paints if you wish rather than drawing, any combination thereof, but there will be a lot of line work as well. Push pins and a large ruler or straight edge. The lines may be drawn using a mixed media.
  • Please have a pad of surfaces suitable for you medium as well, in a size you are comfortable using for additional exercises in color, structure, visual rhythm, line,
  • composition, etc. at least 16 inches in one dimension.
  • Please have a material to add texture to paint as well- such as sand, dried coffee grounds, etc. Should you have it, marble dust or corn meal are both excellent. We will also be thickening some oil paints on cardboard by draining out excessive oil from white paint in oils, and adding texture and thickness to acrylics. Texture is becoming more obvious and popular in major painters’ works today as well. Should you wish to experiment with cold wax, that will work as well. These are available options for those willing to step out of the box.
  • As you are near where you keep your supplies, have experience painting, you will know what else you will need in the usual studio supplies.
  • Should you have any additional questions I will be happy to answer them. emerson4color@gmail,com
  • There will be other art-relatable videos and such given for you to see and study at your leisure to increase your knowledge and experience in the class problems, as well as streaming during the class to watch or not. The most important thing is painting experience; stumbling and making mistakes is the best way to learn. And as Gerhard Richter put it; ”Art loves Chance as Chance loves Art”. The key is being able to see what is happening - not just looking, but seeing the entire painting in relation to understanding it in all its parts.
  • For the Online Classes
  • • Easel or table top
  • • Paper towels
  • • microphone and camera enabled computer
  • • ipad or smart tablet
  • • smart phone (android or IOS)
  • • Strong internet connection Excited Attitude!