Tuesday Group: Colour and Winter Scene Projects - Work in progress

This week we reviewed our colour theory work. Then we started our snow scene/winter project. Here are the results so far:

Monday Group: Colour and Winter Scenes Projects - work in progress

This week we looked at our colour theory work then moved on to our next project to paint a winter scene/snow scene. Here are the early results:

Winter in Western Art

As luck would have it for our new project(!)  BBC4 have broadcast a programme looking at how western artists have depicted winter through the ages. Perhaps this could give you some ideas or a bigger context for your own painting on this subject? NB: this programme is only available to watch until 1 February so hurry if you are interested! Click the image below to watch the programme:

Class CANCELLED Tuesday 22nd January - more snow

Tonight's class is cancelled as the school is closed due to the continuing bad weather in the area. We will meet again next week as planned. Meanwhile, below and opposite are resources and ideas for all learners from both groups to try if they want to start their winter scene project. If some learners don't feel ready for this then you could continue with the colour theory tasks (by building up the layers of colour on top of each other and mixing more coloured greys) or try a painting of your own choice. We will review any work done next week. Keep warm everyone :)

Winter Scene step-by-step

This week we were going to start our WINTER SCENE/SNOW project. But we have no class due to the, yes ironic I know, SNOW!
There is a step-by-step guide in the RESOURCES page opposite  using the masking fluid method which you can either follow or use in your own scenes or follow any guides you have in your own books. If you do get a scene started at home, we can look at it in class next week, or you can leave it till next Tuesday if you prefer.
The step by step guide, in the resources page opposite, is taken from Ray Smith's "An Introduction To Watercolour" published by the Royal Academy and DK Books.

Class CANCELLED Monday 21 January - snow

Whickham School has announced it is closed today MOnday 21 January 2013 due to the adverse weather. Therefore the watercolours class tonight is cancelled. Learners from the Monday group will be contacted directly today and updates regarding the Tuesday class will be posted here. Hopefully the school will reopen tomorrow for the Tuesday class.
Watch also the school website for more updates: http://www.whickhamschool.org

Winter Scenes/Snow

Next week we start our next project "Winter scenes/snow". In the resources page "Winter/Snow" you will find a very useful step-by-step guide to a common way to tackle this subject through a resist method using masking fluid. Also in the resource page is a collection of images that you might find interesting as a subject for your paintings. The tutor will demonstrate the steps as illustrated in the guide and how to use the masking fluid without ruining your brushes! But if you want to have a go before the class just go for it! But use a cheap brush for the masking fluid or a cotton bud.

Tips: if you study the two images above, ask yourself: 'can I really see any areas that are actually pure white?'  I doubt it and I doubt it for most images of snow scenes. So, the tip is to analyse the picture you choose to work from to discover all the light colours that make up the image rather than thinking first in terms of "white".  Indeed, say to yourself: 'I will not paint anything white in my snow scene' - and see what happens!

Second tip: using the white of the paper, paint in thin washes (glazes) and gradually build up your coloured "whites". Keeping the glazes thin will help you get that brilliance that seems to exist in snow colours, even when you build up the darker areas.

Colour Theory Projects (Monday and Tuesday Groups))

We started the course last week and due to the fantastic demand for places we now have 2 watercolour groups at Whickham - the Monday Group and the Tuesday Group. This blog, which is the virtual learning environment for this subject, is for both groups.

This week both groups looked at colour theory: 3-primary colours, 6-primary colours, neutrals, and coloured greys. The theory resources and task guides are listed opposite (Colour Theory and New Colour). The practical resources (exercises) are shown below so learners can complete their tasks at home.

Colour Wheels (3/6 primaries)
Core Task: study, mix, test and paint two colour wheels (primary and secondary colours only) as shown below (top - 3 primaries, lower 6 primaries - warm and cold). NB note the named colours on the lower wheel when choosing from your palette. You may also need to apply several layers (called glazes) of the same colour to get sufficient depth but you must allow a layer to dry before adding the next one on top:

Core Task: from the upper colour wheel mix the inner segments which are the six neutrals*. These combine a primary and a secondary (by mixing together the opposite colours - orange and blue, yellow and violet, red and green). To vary the opposite neutrals, mix slightly more of the nearest colour e.g. in the blue-orange mixtures, to get two different neutrals the segment near to the primary blue has slightly more blue added in the mix and for the one near the orange needs an orange bias in the mixture.

*A pure neutral is made of equal amounts of the constituent colours e.g. 50% blue and 50% orange (with secondaries also consisting of 50-50 mixes, so 50% yellow and 50% red, 50% blue and 50% red, 50% blue, 50% yellow)

Extension Task: mix a range of coloured greys. Coloured greys are probably the type of colours you will mix most often. These are not pure neutrals as the mixture of primary to secondary varies e.g. 90% blue and 10% orange, 20% yellow and 80% violet and so on. Draw a grid like below and paint the 3 primary colours at the top and the 3 secondaries at the bottom. Then mix the two opposites (also called complementary colours) in varying amounts. The more cells in the grid the better. However many you have in your grid, the middle line will be 50% primary and 50% secondary.