Art Class

Art Class at the Petaluma Arts Council:
A Professional Approach To Painting

Spring Session: Thursdays, March 4-Apri1 8, 6:30-9pm

Click here to sign up, and check out other art classes, at the Petaluma Arts Council!

Painting a picture is like juggling a dozen balls at once, and can be a frustrating, mysterious task. Teachers often start with abstract concepts, like composition and color theory, trying to build up to the complex task of actual painting. But that can be like trying to learn poetry before learning to write.

This class is different. Just as all colors can be mixed from a set of primaries, the whole complex range of painting methods and techniques can be reduced and understood by a "primary" set of principles. We’ll cut through the tangle of mystery and theory, and get to the fundamental structure of painting. Starting with a concrete professional approach, students will be given specific processes for creating good composition, color harmony, and rendering. There will be a lot of material not covered in most art classes.

The student will also learn the correct ways to work from photographic reference, something seldom taught to students, but indispensable in the real world of professional artists. We will finish with a flexible, core technique of rendering to learn under-painting, glazing, wet-in-wet, and scumbling, with plenty of examples and demonstrations. During the six weeks the students and teacher will each design and produce a painting in order to gain first hand experience with the process. No pressure, just fun and questions...and paint. We'll talk a lot about style, personal approach, and maybe a little poetry, along the way.

Program Outline

Week 1:

Thumbnail Stage: Developing ideas and composition through very simple, yet effective, methods of layout. Balance, center of interesting, eye movement, etc., can be easily maximized by working with thumbnails.

Collecting Reference: The proper use of photography and found imagery. As well as working from life and, believe it or not, a mirror. Pitfalls to avoid.

Week 2:

Final Layout/Composition Stage: How to work from a good thumbnail design and reference to create a final layout as detailed or as loose as the artist requires. And how to know what’s required.

Value Study Stage: Value is the core element that holds an image together, and grabs the attention of the viewer. There are some basic principles to follow. Developing a good value scheme before worrying about color dramatically simplifies, and improves, the color in the end, especially for less experienced painters.

Week 3:

Color Study Stage: How to “find” color schemes; from life, from photographs, and from other paintings. And how to adapt them by understanding why they work. A student may learn color theory, but still not know how to mix color. By jumping straight to a concrete, functional process for mixing color, they will learn theory automatically…and know how to mix it.

Week 4:

Starting a Painting: Surfaces, enlarging the drawing, and “blocking-in” will be discussed and demonstrated, with an eye to the many working methods of other artists. Several artists and their approaches will be demonstrated. We will be thorough!

Week 5:

Rendering Stage: My experience is that a lot of students struggle with painting because they are really struggling with rendering. Starting from a “core” method, we’ll develop a clear understanding of a variety of working methods, from wash to impasto, from dry-brush to glazing. And in whatever medium the student chooses to work with. This is where it really gets fun!

Week 6:

Problem Solving Stage: Students often get discouraged early-on in a painting because it doesn’t seem to be “working.” They’ll learn to recognize when it’s actually “on track,” even though it doesn’t look right. And learn how to “fix” it, and get it back on track, if it isn’t.

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