Painting with construction paper

I hope some of you have been able to take advantage of the cooler mornings we’ve had lately in Georgia to get out and paint. I’ve had so much going on at my house the last couple of days I haven’t had a chance to pick up a brush or study. Today I will begin teaching at the Thomaston Upson Arts Council gallery a series of lessons I am calling “A Walk with Monet”. I’ve done this a couple of times before and I always enjoy seeing the children (and adults) get excited about painting and learning about Claude Monet and impressionism. I hope to be able to show you some of the work the children are creating as the work gets completed each Wednesday for the next four weeks.

You might enjoy getting a preview of what we will be doing today to help understand composition, color and a basic understanding of impressionistic painting. The photo below was taken several years ago after I did this same class to a group of ladies living at West Village assisted living facility in Thomaston, Georgia. They were so proud of their completed paintings they hung them down the hall leading to their rooms. Doing classes like these are very rewarding and I’d encourage all of you to take this idea, expand on it, and share it with groups you think might enjoy them. If you do, share your results with the group via email to the Callaway Painters Yahoo Group or send it to me and I’ll post it on the blog for you.

It’s no surprise to me that the students end up teaching and showing me things I never thought of before, so I look forward to each session. Basic instructions are below. All during the two hours we are working I’ll be talking about how this exercise helps us when we actually get down to painting with real paint, a bit about Monet and friends and showing books written about impressionism answering questions and just having fun.

~ take colored construction papers and tear into a variety of shapes and sizes
~view and select an image of a painting you enjoy and want to copy
~paste the shapes and colors on to card stock like the shapes and colors of the painting you have selected as your reference
~sign the work
~frame and take home

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The value of values

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It's hot,hot,hot outside so I know that many of us are painting inside these days. I've been looking back at some of my books and doing some self critique of my work. As a review for me I found this useful:

The Five Tone Values

The most precious factor of a paintng is getting down the five tone values. If a painting doesn't capture these, it fails to convey dimension and that is what we are after. Some think they can get by with using color or texture to convey dimension but bottom line, it all comes back to value so it's good to understand, practice, and critique your paintings for value changes. Value changes helps tell the story. Always see color in terms of value.

1. The body tone where a form is in line with the light.

2. The body shadow where a form's shape is not in line with the light.

3. A cast shadow where a forum stands in the way of the light.

4. The highlight where a concave or convex plan is in direct line with the light.

5. A reflection where general illumination bounces into shadows.

It's all about the light and to convey light we have to understand how we see value changes as light hits an object. Sure, it's painting 101, but it's a good lesson to review, review, and review for all of us.

Hope you all are having good painting days in or out of the studio. I'd love to see what you are doing. Send it to me and I'll post it for you. phyllisfranklin@hotmail.com