Episode 53 - More colour!!!

I uploaded another episode on my Youtube channel and its full of colour, have a look.

Colour theory final review.

We reached the end of my Colour theory for painters course at ACAD and I did a final class discussion and review to see what they remember and to build these crazy whiteboard notes based on their retention.

 Below are a few pics of some of the final projects etc.

More colour is better

We continued our exploration of the basic colours and their inherit values.

Here are my demo notes representing the primary and secondary tint/shades chart instruction and their relative layout placement.

I love the colours around this sample swatch.

Gorgeous greens.

Beautiful colour strings in arcs on each disposable palette paper. 

And the rest......as they say.......

is HOMEWORK!!!

Colour, who doesn't love it?!

As creative people artists are really drawn to colour. Candy  for your eyes.

I am teaching Colour Theory for Painters at ACAD this semester and it is really shaping up to be a great class.  It is so much fun, it seems like class time just disappears in the blink of an eye. Here is a peek as to what we have been up to in the past few classes, seeing all this colour may interest you, maybe this is a class you'll be interested in learning colour theory and taking this class with me in the future.

The glorious colour wheel. I assigned students a very limited palette in which to create the secondary and tertiary colours with.

Others opted for a different challenge and worked with warm and cool variations of each hue.

Or blending with transparency to create something that reminds me of the "spinning wheel of death" on my mac laptop.

The majority of work, insofar, is done on the palette and the notes are what are transferred in these swatches and diagrams.

I like how each students work space looks, the variation in tools and scattering of materials.

My demo area is just as chaotic. I do bag my oils in separate zip top bags per colour, but when its time to get creative, we all know, order goes out the window in the chaos of passion :D

Acrylic sampler at Swinton's

It is always a mixed batch of people coming from a variety f backgrounds and interests that really make my Sunday Samplers at Swinton's such a dynamic event. I feel like I'm the guide on the journey of creativity. Kind of like Willy Wonka opening the doors to his chocolate factory. Except in this case its better not to eat the ingredients. They are a plastic polymer after all.

In the Acrylic sampler we start out getting used to the stickiness of mixing colours before we get a plan of attack for the individual compositions. I show a variety of ways of getting an image down onto the toned support and then we prepare colours.

Except in the case of abstract, then you can probably just begin attacking the support with pigment.

We start with blocking in the big shapes with a big brush so that there is a base to work on.

Working towards detail while thinning the paint further and reducing the brush size along the way.

every individual has a different approach reflecting their different interests and unique goals in paint.

By the time the dust has cleared and the work spaces are tidied up, the participants leave with their first acrylic painting.

As their guide I bask in the glory of their achievements on that most noble adventure of art:D

for more info on the samplers I offer at Swinton's visit their website here:
http://www.swintonsart.com/instruction/samplers

Colour Theory class opportunity

I was asked to substitute teach a colour theory class. I imagine walking into a class much like a cold call. I dread it in many ways. It can be nerve racking. I know my stuff so all I can I hope is to liven up the room and make learning enjoyable, but you never know the dynamic of the group.

 This Monday night I got my chance to instruct a Colour Fundamentals course for another teacher who was away.  I had built  a curriculum for a similar course in the hops to teach it last fall, but it didn't run due to low enrollment. Now I got my chance and my fingers are crossed it went well.

 I think I offered a "colourful" FUN-damental class based on the outline and assignments I had to give. I managed to scrape together 3 corresponding slideshows for the monochrmatic, analogous and complementary colour scheme assignments.

I really like all the different set ups an materials they were experimenting with. And the chicken soup can reused and recycled for art. I also appreciated the bright colour true lighting in the colour fundamentals classroom.

Near the end of the class I offered additional notes on Plutchick's (colour) wheel of emotions and showed a video about colour and storytelling in cinema that is a real eye opening approach for any artist to understand the value and use of colour in motion pictures and how it can relate to their artwork. It was a great class and I hope to be able to offer some of the teachings again in the future.

I also wanted to share the beautiful colourful painting I saw created live at the latest Swinton's Demo night featuring artist Donna MacDonald. Its a cheap event to attend on a Friday night that I highly recommend. Her workshop is already full but who knows there may be another listed for the fall so keep your eyes peeled.