Impasto and Imprimatura

I started taking Fundamental Acrylics last fall but dropped it, finding the course overwhelming.  I tried again this fall and I love it!  I'm amazed.

We learned another great technique-tidbit this week that blew me away.  Tom Thomson, on his outdoor sketches on boards, began with an imprimatura layer.  That is, he first painted the board one colour which most often was ORANGE.  I really had trouble believing this.  I have to get to the AGO to look at dry brush on David Milne's work and orange imprimatura on Thomson's.  I would have said that the orange bits were added later.

So of course we began this week with an orange imprimatura layer.  Then we started with thin paint getting gradually thicker with the help of Regular Gloss Gel to create the look of a thick oil painting.  It was so fun I felt like an Old Master!  Same source material as last week.



Dry Brush

Today we did the first of four paintings of the same subject.  I chose a photograph of the lake from Grannie's cottage -- which now belongs to my middle brother.  I'm pretty sure he took the photo.  For the dry brush technique we began by painting the canvas black -- or black with one colour.  I added blue.  I was surprised to learn that David Milne used this technique almost exclusively  -- but then I thought about his black backgrounds or exposed bits of canvas.  Once the black was dry we painted with no medium, a dry bristle (not synthetic) brush, using only a small amount of paint.  The effect is kind of like pastel or chalk on a blackboard.

 

 

 



Assemblage

Our second assignment for Contemporary Art is an assemblage of found objects that speak to each other and speak of ourselves.  Rather than being something to set on a plinth, our work is meant to hang on a wall.  I started with a shoe box with navigational signs and boats on it, giving the idea of travel.  I added my Paula Rego copy that I love -- I really love her work and that painting.  Another small painting of mine.  From Scotland I have a Canadian-Scottish pin, a Scottish hat change purse and a Celtic leather bracelet.  From the past, a pen holder from Florida with the pen long gone.  The china face and the wooden duck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expressive Colour

This week in class we were allowed any colours, all colours.  For the third time we painted the same object.  Next week we start four weeks on something new.



"Art on the Rock"

I'm just back from 4 days in St. John's Newfoundland.  I've never been out that way.  As the name of the trip implies, it was all about galleries and artists, musicians and art.  I really enjoyed it.  In St. John's we went to the Rooms, their new art gallery, museum and archives.  I saw an amazing exhibition of drawings by Susan Wood.  We went as well to some smaller galleries that sold many artists including Mary Pratt, Christopher Pratt and David Blackwood.  Our first stop was at Quidi Vidi where a new craft studio has been built for emerging artists.  We also visited Signal Hill and the botanical gardens at Memorial University.  One day we took a trip to some small villages.  At Cupids the earliest European settlement from 1610 is being excavated.  Near Brigus we visited the former home of American artist Rockwell Kent which is now run as an artist's retreat.  At Bay Roberts we had lunch at the Mad Rocks Cafe.  Speaking of food, every lunch and dinner was at a different restaurant, all excellent.  The group was small -- only 5 of us plus our leader, the Newfoundland writer Kevin Major.  For a wonder, the weather was great with sunshine almost all weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Space & Atmosphere

This week in Fundamental Acrylics the topic was space and atmosphere.  We worked on this with a high key palette of 3 primaries plus white.  I used Titanium White, Hansa Yellow Light, Ultramarine Blue and Quinacridone Crimson.  In addition we were supposed to paint in an Impressionist style -- that is, not blending the colours, lots of brush strokes visible, painterly.  The medium we used, Soft Gel Gloss, helped make the Impressionist effect.



Limited Palette

We spent the first few weeks in Fundamental Acrylics painting colour wheels and mixes.  This week we had our first assignment -- a limited palette painting of a single object.  I chose a jug that was my mother's.  Well, it was from a set of family china that we (us five kids) pretty much broke in its entirety.  According to the bottom of the dishes they were hand painted in Jamaica which seemed quite exotic though they were most probably delivered from Eaton's.  I loved the bold colours -- blues and greens -- and black outlines.

We'll be painting the same object at least three times.  The assignment this week was to use a limited palette of black, white and one or two other colours.  No surprise that I chose complementary colours, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.  (Blue, always blue.)  We painted on gessoed canvas stapled to a board -- a new technique for me that I really liked.  We also used a medium called AGL for "Acrylic Glazing Liquid" which was also a revelation especially in blending colours together.