This graduate level painting course is an intensive exploration into painting from observation. Through close attention to their immediate environments, students will hone skills of observational oil painting, and expand their knowledge of color mixing, materials, and techniques. Students will practice close looking and translating the world they witness through paint and color, hopefully seeing beyond what meets the eye. The beginning of the course will focus on translating observed color and space in oil paint as it relates to light, value, contrast, temperature, and saturation. We will discuss surface preparation, and the material, expressive, and embodied qualities of oil paint, focusing not only on what we paint–but how we paint it. Assignments will include painting on site in the landscape, painting deep space, and choosing subjects related to students’ current practices and interests. Ultimately, this class will focus on the power and impact of our own attention. In other words, students will challenge their conceptual understanding of the subjects they paint, and the spaces they witness from the start to finish of a painting. We will look to contemporary and art historical examples of how close observation can enrich and inform a painting practice. The hope for this course is to generate close looking and observation to feed back into your ongoing practices, and to take a deep dive into painting color and materials.
Estimated Materials Cost: $350.00
Open to Graduate Students only.
Elective