Tyler Continuing Education Class: Painting with the Masters

As a transfer student, I somehow managed to skip over some entry level classes that leave me feeling like there are holes in my painting knowledge.  I decided to find a class to try to fill those holes in hopes of breaking my routines and developing my skills in news ways.  

During the first week, we worked with a traditional palette to develop on underpainting.  I had never done this before.  The thinned out paint made me a little crazy but as the class went on, I felt more comfortable.  During week two, we added more paint to the image, building the darks and lights of the image.  During week three, we began using medium (liquin) to add glazes to the image - creating deeper darks and eventually, richer lights.  The process is slow and forces me to think about painting in a very different way than I have been working. 

Half way through week two's class, we set aside our traditional work and began a piece using an impressionist palette.  In contrast to the first piece, the goal was to block in as much color/light as possible in the first day - "drawing" with he brush was discouraged.  During week three of class (week two on this painting) the goal was to start building the light in the image - again focusing on color and not form or line or structure of the objects.  Brushstrokes and the play of colors off one another are key in this process - blending the paint on the canvas is to be avoided, a tricky thing for me to avoid. 

Between weeks two and three, I felt the urge to make another attempt at the impressionist approach - I was hugely disappointed with my composition on the painting I was making in class.  The next steps for this piece will be to stat building the light and color with brushstrokes in the same manner that has been started in the above piece.  I'm looking forward to getting back to this painting during the week and working to create the lively sense of color and light that is starting to emerge from the in-class piece.

There is one more week of class for me - two for everyone else.  I'm not sure how far I will get but I am really looking forward to seeing how each of these images develops.