For my Secondary Ed AVT 692 course we explored the wonderful medium of Watercolor. We had four main assignments which are listed here. I kept a process journal for technique learning, idea thumbnails, and color blocking sketches. I took photos during each project so viewers could see my process.
Initial Exploration of Techniques
Title and renderings of new watercolor brushes purchased.
Wet on dry and wet on wet techniques.
Wet on dry is when a painter dips brush in paint and paints on dry paper.
Wet on wet is when the painter wets paper first with clean water, then applies paint.
This glazing sample shows what colors can be produced after letting paint dry, then overlapping.
My gradient technique needs a little practice to really get it right, but the paint gets lighter
as I painted a strip of water, one after the other, after painting a strip of color and
tilting the paper up slightly so it bleeds.
Wax relief with a white crayon drawn first, then painted over with color. The crayon blocks the color.
I scored the tree trunk with an xacto knife to add texture. I used course salt on saturated color to make a crystal-like texture for the birch tree background.
Close up of salt crystal background.
Splattering and Seran Wrap. I used a combination of a toothbrush in paint and tapping a wet paintbrush on the edge of my finger. I used crumbled Seran Wrap on wet paint, but a book on it for 10 minutes, then lifted it up when it was dry.
Wet and dry sponging. I used a regular blue kitchen sponge and cut it down.
I tried it dry and dipping it in paint, and then wet and dipping it in paint. I think a natural sponge would have worked better but I didn't have one. This is the technique I liked the least because I couldn't determine what I would use it for in a composition.
First Assignment—Metaphor
For our first assignment, we had to select an object as a metaphor. I chose one of my son's skateboarding shoes, which was pretty beat up. The original shoe is black, but I chose to paint it in different colors.
My metaphor exercise is below showing that a shoe can be a person's identity.
Progress photos of my metaphor shoe.
I used Pebeo Drawing Gum to mask out certain portions of the shoe to get the look I wanted.
I love seeing the result when after you've painted you rub the gum away to see what it reveals.
Second Assignment—My Metaphor Shoe
We were to pick another metaphorical object. It could be the same object, something similar, or something completely different. I chose to stick with shoes and selected one of my own shoes. It had to be monochromatic—painted in just one watercolor color. I chose red even though my original shoe was black. This is the first time I taped my 140 lb Strathmore watercolor paper down to a board with masking tape and sprayed it with water to stretch it. I used crumbled Seran Wrap for the texture in the background.
Plein Air Watercolor
Our third assignment was to paint an outside (Plein Air) painting like the view out of one of our windows. This is the view out of my sliding glass door where my balcony is. I painted it the afternoon before a big snow came. I did it fairly quickly because I wanted to capture the shadows of the afternoon sun.
Space Metaphor
The metaphor for this is painting is "Compartmentalization". We had to depict a space that we identify with. This is my apartment. The metaphor is that my apartment is compartmentalization by have a separate room for everything. In my mind I have to compartmentalize in order to get tasks done. It is like when a first responder has to put her family in a different compartment in her mind in order to run into a burning building. She can't worry about here family at that time.
Life Metaphor—Final Project
Our final project was a composition that reflects our lives. A blue jay steals from and disrupts other birds nests. My nest is empty. The blue jay stole my wedding ring. I've been "blue-jayed." I used the gum mask again on this painting which you can see in the process photos below. I used a salt technique on part of the background.
No comments:
Post a Comment