This page will be dedicated to documenting what I learn in this course as well as presenting photographs of the drawings that I complete for the course. So you have an idea of how the class is structured, our professor today told us that Tuesdays will be reserved for discussion and critiquing each others’ work, while Thursdays will be for working on assignments or practicing what we’ve learned. According to our syllabus, the semester will be divided into three parts:
1. The Natural Gesture
Elements of Pictorial Design:
Line, Size, Repetition, Unity, Shape, Proportion, Direction, Texture, Alteration, Balance, Contrast, Dominance
Associated readings from:
Henri Matisse, Letter to Henry Clifford
Nathaniel Goldstein, The Art of Responsive Drawing
Artists to study:
Ingres, Katherine Bowling, Jennifer Bartlett, Pablo Picasso, Hsu Wei, Mary Cassatt, Jane Freidlicher, Chaim Soutine, Edwin Dickinson, Henry O. Tanner, Willem de Kooning, John Constable, Joan Nelson
2. The Problem with Perspective
Working with one, two, and three-point perspective, negative/positive or figure/ground relationships, directional line or planer active recession, and atmospheric perspective
Associated reading and film:
Claudia Betti/ Teel Sale, Drawing, a contemporary approach
James Burke, Perspective and the Renaissance
David Hockney, A Day on the River with the Emperor of China
Artists to study: Piero della Francesca, Horance Pippin, Helen Frankenthaler, Georgia O’Keefe, Edward Hopper, Lois Mailou Jones, Helen Meranda Wilson, Caravaggio, Corot, Balthus, Cezanne, Matisse, Lucien Freud
3. Light as Color
Color theory processes: complimentary, primary, secondary, tertiary, intensity of hue, value, transparency & opacity, local color, harmony & discord
Associated reading:
Hawthorne, Hawthorne on Painting
Artists to study: Degas, Joseph Bueys, Martin Puryear, Rodin, Alberto Giacometti, Louise Nevelson, Isama Noguchi, Marisol (Escobar), Antonio Lopes Garcia, Mel Chen, Bernini, Barbara Diduk, Camille Claudel
Each day I have class I will post a document here that discusses what we went over and any drawings I may have made:
Day 2: Rebels, Light, Darkness, and Chairs
Sophistication, Ellsworth Kelly, and the Shadows of Tree Branches
Images, Objects, and Hair: Embracing the Forest and Disregarding the Trees
Final Hair Drawing and Critiques
The Problem of Value: Drawing Still Lifes
A Beautiful Intent: Drawing Stairs with Perspective in Mind
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