So we are into the third week of
Future Artists Nottingham and this week we decided to focus on painting.
Painting is one of
the most common mediums within art, however we wanted to show the girls how
diverse painting can be. To do this we had help from a local painter Ellis
Sharpe, who gave the girls an insight into the basics; lighting, shape,
composition and colour.
Originally when we told the girls
that we were doing painting they seemed to be excited, however as soon as we
got the big paint brushes out and they realised that we were going to be
working on a less detailed scale they seemed to be a bit apprehensive, but they
manage to push through and we ended up with some great results.
Ellis showed us the process he goes
through when painting; he doesn’t always work on white paper, but a coloured
background, so we gave the girls painted paper to work with. The first step was
to draw the object; map out the form and areas of shadow. The objects were
placed onto a contrasting coloured piece of paper, to reflect an interesting hue
onto the object, such as garlic on blue paper and already to create an
interesting composition. The girls dived into this straight away which we were
pleased with, seeing as in the first workshop they were a bit apprehensive about
using charcoal.
The next stage was a little trickier;
we explained how to give the fruit or vegetable form by painting in where the shadows are on the object. Ellis
showed us how he does this using a brown tone for the shadows and then dilutes
the colour for the mid tones leaving the areas clear where the light is being
reflected. This is where the girls needed the most help; mapping out where the
light was on their fruit or vegetable. Nevertheless the girls pursued with the
task and manage to come up with the form and structure.
The last stage was to use colour, to
look really carefully and allow the blue tones reflected from the paper for example
to be on the object. By adding a variety of colours instead of a solid block
colour, the object becomes more vibrant and textural, and more real. Some of the girls quickly grasped it and were
really experimenting with the others, although a few were struggling to realise
the different tones. However with our help, and Ellis’ expertise and enthusiasm
they all were experimental and produced fantastic paintings.
the alternative paint palette |
At the end of the lesson we made the girls all look at each other’s work and discussed what they thought of the style of painting, it was obvious that some of the girls felt hesitant at the start but most of them said that they enjoyed doing something different. As a member of F.A.N I felt extremely proud of the girls for sticking with the difficult task as the end results were excellent. Some of the paintings will probably be exhibited as part of the exhibition of their work in the Nottingham Trent Bonington Art Building Atrium in a couple of months time but as well as this, the girls gained important painting skills which they can reuse again and again.
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