Here are some highlights from the current classes being offered so you have an idea of what we did this week in class. If you missed class, this may be helpful.

If you are visiting town and want to take one of the classes, contact the studio at (802) 457-2020 to join us for the three hour session.

Individual classes are $45 per class.

WEEK THREE WET-ON-WET

WEEK FOUR LANDSCAPE TEXTURES

George Zimberg, Chickens in a Barnyard Pen & Ink and Watercolor

WEEK FIVE CONVEYING TEXTURE

WEEK SIX ANIMALS

WEEK SEVEN DRAWING THE FIGURE

Find out what the other 2010 Fall Classes are doing...

Or review 2010 Spring Classes here!

THE SKETCHBOOK TO PAINTING: Pen & Ink and Watercolor

6:00 PM to 9:00 PM starting Thursday, October 21, 2010

Course objective: —To practice drawing techniques with pen & ink and to gain confidence as an artist; To explore watercolor techniques for your own vocabulary for colored ink drawings and to accept your expressive line when drawing in pen.

October 21, 2010 BASIC DRAWING TECHNIQUES WITH THE PEN

From small still-life objects, we’ll practice gesture drawing, contour line drawing and cross-hatched drawings. We’ll also experiment with form through watercolor.

Warming up for drawing is often overlooked, like stretching before a run. The result is often disappointing. Use a big piece of paper, a pencil or a pen to find you way around some simple objects any time of day. Squiggles seen in the garlic drawing can provide value (lights and darks) while giving your arm a bit of exercise before tackling more complex subjects.

Contour Line drawing follows the outside edge of an object. It describes more than the silhouette, or even the edge of the object as you can see in this drawing of four disparate objects. Slowing down and following the edge is important as it helps you observe the relationship between edges in any given object.

Gesture drawing helps us look at the overall whole of the object. It is inherently faster than contour line drawing and gives us an opportunity to "find" the object in a web of lines rather than select an edge to follow.

Both styles of drawing are important to us as we consider what the application will be. In a sketchbook, on location, Gesture Drawing is a good place to start. However, when observing a new object carefully, contour line on top of gesture can get at the essence of the form. Both ways of approaching drawing wiht a pen are important to practice.

HOMEWORK: Using one of the techniques explored in class, create a still life in your own kitchen of five objects. Light the objects carefully to use shadows as a dramatic component to your composition.

October 28, 2010 SHAPES OF COLOR AND THE PEN

Architectural forms provide interesting shapes that can be highlighted and defined by the pen. Using this technique will allow the line to be the container for free and expressive watercolor within the shapes.

HOMEWORK: Complete the painting started in class. Draw three drawings of local architecture exploring simplified shapes. If you have time, use watercolor expressively within the shapes.

November 4, 2010 WET-ON-WET TECHINQUE

We’ll start with expressive underpaintings on which we’ll use pen to draw images that integrate with the wet-on-wet colors. After the drawing is complete, layers of color will help enhance the detail of your painting.

HOMEWORK: Do a still life of flowers and/or fruit from life, if possible. Use the watercolor as expressively as possible to lay in the basic colors and THEN use pen to complete the “realism.” Bring a sketchbook to class with a drawing from which to work.

November 11, 2010* NO CLASS

November 17, 2010 LANDSCAPE TEXTURES

Using expressive techniques with the pen to establish value, we’ll explore how we might create a pen & ink drawing with clear lights and darks. You’ll be working from a sketchbook drawing, if you have one. Once the drawing is complete, light washes of color may enhance the drawing.

HOMEWORK: Complete the drawing and start a new one on hot press watercolor paper to practice the techniques learned in class.

TUESDAY November 23, 2010 CONVEYING TEXTURE

Consider feathers, plants, metal or fabric. How can you use the pen to convey these materials? We’ll work on a complex still-life in class and watercolor one or two layers before the end of the evening

HOMEWORK: Complete the painting. Study five different objects in various textures over the week and do one drawing a day in your sketchbook. Anything from sugar containers in a diner to a stapler at work will do—simply record the drawing of various object that have a variety of surfaces.

December 2, 2010 ANIMAL PORTRAITS

Less is more when it comes to ink on these. Allowing the watercolor to describe the overall form, ink in both black, brown and white can help create the illusion of fur or hair on beasts you know and love.

HOMEWORK: Use your sketchbook to record animals you may know in your neighborhood. Try to record images of at least three dogs, cats, cows, pigs, horses or sheep you might know.

December 9, 2010 DRAWING THE FIGURE

We’ll take our sketchbooks to the Woodstock Inn where we’ll explore drawing people in the lobby. From these drawings, we’ll come back and work in color and detail.

HOMEWORK: Rework one or more images into a final painting for homework. OR ask a family member to sit for you. Do a pen & ink drawing on watercolor paper that you will then color. Consider using the previous techniques offered in the classes so far.

December 16, 2010 EXPRESSIVE TANGLES

Non-objective work is very satisfying to most artists. In this final class, we’ll explore “automatic drawing” and how it can serve as a tool to quiet our minds and relax us. Color can do much to stimulate. We’ll also look at how a biomorphic form can inform us and direct us in a new kind of painting.

HOMEWORK: Consider your schedule for another painting class this winter!

Materials List      

Brushes
Wash Brush, preferably sable, at least 1” wide also one that is wider of a week exploring a large painting
1-2 Round Brushes, sable or a combination acrylic sable in sizes 8, 10, 12 or 14 depending on how large you like to work.
Water containers—I use two; one small inside a larger one. We have some at the studio, but bringing your own will allow you get comfortable with your set-up, if you like. I use a larger Tupperware with a smaller one inside.
Board: You can use Gator Board, 1/4” plywood, or Plexiglass in a 13” x 17” size or so.
Paper: A range of paper in 140 lb. We will use mostly Hot Press paper for this class, though some smooth cold press sheets will be useful. Five to eight full sheets of paper should get you through the whole class.
Bring some drawing paper we’ll be doing for warm-up; old copy paper is fine to recycle for this. Or a SKETCHBOOK suitable for drawing and notes.

EXTRAS:
Sharpie Pens: come in a new retractable version in fine and ultra fine.
Micron pens in a variety of colors.
Artist’s Tape (available at Cheap Joe’s)
1 roll Bounty Paper Towel (yes, it matters what brand it is!)
Masking fluid, Natural Sponges, single edged razor blade (if you can find one!) or Exacto Knife
Extra palette for your gouache colors, such as a plate or butcher tray.
A Clamp Lamp from your local hardware store to use to set up a structured light on your work at home.

Watercolors
COLORS: The objective is to have nine primaries (three of yellow, red and blue respectively) in the three values: Light/Medium/Dark. We will discuss the properties of the paints throughout the class so that you can make more educated decisions about your palette. Use ONLY professional grade pigments: I prefer Winsor & Newton, Sennelier, Daniel Smith or M. Graham. Note the word “or” below: you really only need  9 though its always fun to have more!
YELLOWS: Aureolin or Lemon Yellow
New Gamboge
Quinacridrone Gold
REDS: Vermillion or Cadmium Red Light
Rose Madder Genuine or Permanent Rose or Opera
Permanent Alizarin
BLUES: Cinnerous Blue or Cerulean Blue or Peacock Blue
Cobalt Blue or French Ultramarine
Thalo Blue or Prussian Blue or Indanthrone Blue

Additional colors are fun to add but optional. Consider adding:
Burnt Umber                                         Thalo Green
Burnt Sienna                                    Indigo
Yellow Ochre                                    Dioxinine Violet
Naples Yellow                                    Sap Green
Viridian (Daniel Smith only)            Chinese White
Cobalt Violet                                    Metallic Paints you may never have used!

GOUACHE: White in either Titanium or Zinc White and any colors of gouache you want to play with