My First Oil Paintings

From inspiration to almost complete, I am super proud of my first ever oil painting. Since this last image, I have added to the pathway, the trees in the background and the growth in the foreground. I love how I channeled van Gogh, was able to capture the haze of the fog and take suggestions from my professor about layering and glazing. 

 This is probably one of my favorite photos from my two week trip. No filters, no editing, Sankatay Light actually looked this painterly. To add to the beauty, my classmates are scattered throughout the landscape, wandering, conversing and taking photos of their own.
The lighthouse was actually moved from the spot in the middle of the shot, there is a person in navy blue, to the current location. On the other side of the black fence to the right is the bluff. The erosion continues to claim the land.

There are still a few strokes of paint I would like to add to this image. However, I am very happy with the perspective and color. I am flattered that based on this image alone, my mom's boyfriend has asked me to paint him something. Just in case I get famous!

I hate this painting! It has changed rather drastically from here, although I don't have a current photo. I think I tried to do too much between experimenting with color and palette knives. It was however good a good experience for a later painting. I hope to go back and add more.

My professor saw this sketch I did, during my mid-term meeting/ critique. He loved how sketchy yet detailed it is. He could tell that I start with a medium ground, add darks and pull out lights. His challenge for the second week was to become a more "sketchy" painter. For me, that makes sense. I was so caught up in traditional American landscape painting, a la the Hudson School, that I wanted to capture every shadow and every leaf and detail. That's hard! I have always worked abstractly, but my brain thought that realistic was how I had to paint.

Given my new challenge, I wanted to try "sketchy painting" out before I started my series.  Just like college, I started this painting after 11pm. I am pretty happy with the sketchy details of pebbles created in under an hour. 

 I think this one is done. Perhaps a few highlights to pull out, but I will wait to see how the others turn out. 

I have a few more layers of pebbles and sand to complete. See the erosion from earlier photos?

 

Adding the reeds in the foreground just today, has totally made a difference. I still need to add a shadow to the "window" and maybe a few highlights. I hated this painting until today and am finally excited to see where it goes.

 You need to turn your computer from here on out. Sorry. Not sure what happened.

There is still a lot to be done with this image. There will be leaves on the darker trees and a wind turbine in the "window." There will also be a shadow with the window. Like the lighthouse painting, the lighter trees are meant to be images of the future. Hopefully it works out. 

Light, Water, Earth and Wind of Nantucket.

in process... the final images are due on Friday the 26th!

Wolf Kahn Inspired Landscapes

There's a little, independent bookstore we like to poke around in whenever we visit Woodstock, VT. I tend to gravitate to the kid's section since I can't resist a good picture book. Right next to the kid's section are spinning racks of beautiful stationary. The bright colors of the Wolf Kahn prints have caught my eye on numerous occasions so I knew I needed to create a lesson and pass on my inspiration to my students. After a visit to the MFA, I purchased (with my student discount!) a calendar of prints and began formulating my ideas.

I think this lesson is suitable for all age levels, but I geared it towards my eighth grade students. One of our "units" of study in this grade is Invented Worlds. The formal elements I attempted to teach here were meant to carry over to the next lesson which is one point perspective. (We've been working on one point perspective cities and rooms now for over a month! I also added a surreal twist and hope to post some soon)

I began this lesson with a Power Point. I think slide presentations can be ineffective, so I try to make them interactive by asking students questions about what they see and calling on students to read the brief informational texts. I've also started developing "viewing guides" to go along with my presentations. Not only does this encourage students to be more accountable for the information being presented, but it also promotes literacy. This is a big buzz word lately in education. I'm currently enrolled in a graduate class (one of my last!) focused solely on "new literacies." While initially nervous about taking a course so focused on reading and writing, I am excited about the possibilities and the new ideas I can bring to my classroom.

I know I am digressing from the lesson, but after two short years in my school system, I really want to validate art as an integral component in the well rounded education of my students. Right now, the arts are supported, but sometimes I feel like its only because the work "looks good." Like, "thank you for beautifying the school" and "how awesome are those art works!" In reality, it needs to be more about the process, thinking creatively, learning skills that can apply in other situations outside the art room and an appreciation.  A LOT needs to happen, like getting a department head, before the system can get there. But I feel like the more I learn, the more I can try, the more my students will get out of art class. Back to Wolf Kahn...

After viewing the power point, students were asked to use the vocabulary to fill in the blanks. I gave students a hand out that looked like this:

Name:

Grade/Section:

Wolf Kahn

LANDSCAPES

 

Extraordinary	Foreground	Unusual
Middle ground	Horizon line	Background

1.     Where water or land meet sky is the  _______________ and at the viewer’s eye level in a work of art.

2.     Parts of a work of art that seem closest to you are called the _______________.

3.     Parts of a work of art that seem to be between objects in the foreground and the background are said to be in the _______ _________.

4.     Wolf Kahn’s artwork became famous because of the ______________ or _______________ colors that he uses.

5.     Using ________________ can also create the illusion of space in a work of art.

Use the above vocabulary to create 2 landscape sketches. You may use color pencil to experiment with unusual or extraordinary color combinations. Attempt to BLEND colors.

The presentation, vocabulary and sketches took about one and a half classes. During the second class, students were told that they had a choice of materials for the final image. They had a choice of oil pastels (I had florescent available), chalk pastels or watercolor with oil pastel to create a resist. There was scrap paper so that they could experiment with the different materials first. The only real requirement for their image was to include foreground, middle ground and background. During each class, I put laminated calendar pages at their tables so they could have a visual as well.

I feel like the landscapes most reminiscent of Kahn's were the ones completed with chalk. The florescent oil pastels I had were terrible if blended with any thing else and not very opaque. The mixed media images came out with more softness and a nice balance but the colors were not as bright. Overall, I think it was a successful lesson. I am confident that when my students go on to high school, that they will know what a horizon line is (I have students at that level now who do not). I was happy to see that the majority of my students did NOT put the horizon line right, smack in the middle and only a handful had the happy little sun in the corner. By choosing their own materials too, they had some more ownership. For some the openness was overwhelming, but I'm pleased with the results and proud of my students.