Today's Class- We finally returned from our long hurricane related break, and got to start our study of color. First I discussed some of the scheduled changes that have resulted from the lost days. Then I showed a selection of slides, from prehistoric through comic books, discussing the evolution of color technology and materials, as well as the ways color was used artistically. The rest of the morning was spent doing two exercises related to basic color theory and mixing. In the afternoon we looked at a few more slides to introduce a new graded project on the topic of color temperature.
How to make this up- The two color mixing exercises are the creation of a color wheel and set of color mixes between complement pairs, examples of which are shown above. The color wheel requires students to mix all colors from the three primary colors, including the three secondaries and the six tertiaries. The complement mix involves choosing a pair of complementary colors (red/green or blue/orange) and mixing from one the other to create neutrals. More examples and the full instructions can be found here. (you may skip the third exercise on Tints and Shades, which we dropped as part of our post-Sandy schedule adjustment) These are portfolio exercises that must be made up by the end of the semester to receive full credit.
The new graded project is about color temperature, the idea that colors are perceived to have warm or cool qualities. Artists will use these qualities to various effects in 2D art. What we did was begin the process of making two collages of color, each meant to represent a different season of the year based on the temperature of the colors within. Below are two examples from a previous semester. The project requires the creation of 100 unique colors for each season, mixed from all your colors of acrylic paint. The colors will be cut out in pieces no larger than 1 square inch and glued into two 10" square boxes. Additional examples of the project and the full instructions can be found here.
Homework- The color temperature graded project will be due at the beginning of class on November 26, 2012. At that time we will look at them as a group and decide if the seasons are accurately represented.
The cut woodblocks for the book illustrations are due at the beginning of class on November 19, 2012. I'll bring the materials and tools to help everyone print their blocks during class while everyone is working on a new graded project.
For next class 11/19/12- We will start a new graded project related to the concept of limited color palettes, creating paintings with just a small number of chosen colors that fit certain patterns. Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencil and eraser, all your acrylic paints, brushes, palette, palette knife, and water container. You will also need a black and white photo to be a source for your project. Just as with the dot drawing, the photo should be of a real object, scene, figure, etc and have a wide range of values from light to dark. I'll have a bag of magazines to pick through for those who don't bring a photo of their own.
