Today's Class- Today the class worked on the final still life assignment and final portfolio exercise of the semester. We started by looking at some slides of historical examples of still life, discussing the various purposes such pieces served in art and society. Then I set up a still life involving colorful objects and had the class paint it, considering all the aspects of still life drawing that I've stressed to this point, plus trying to match colors as closely as possible. We also looked at everyone's color temperature collages, which were collected.
How to make this up- You will need to set up a still life with solidly colored objects. Then paint it on a sheet of your 18" x 24" paper using your acrylic paints. No special lighting necessary. Above is a photo of today's still life set up in VE 209, below is a student example from a previous semester that contains many of the same objects. The full instructions and additional student examples can be found here.
This is a portfolio exercise that must be completed by the last day of class to receive full credit.
Homework- The Museum paper is due on December 8, 2014. Papers will be reviewed promptly, and if I find any significant issues, students will have the opportunity to fix it and resubmit it for a better grade before the end of the semester. Papers submitted after next week will still be accepted, but as late, and papers arriving on the last day of class won't be able to be rewritten.
I've decided to extend the due date on last week's limited color palettes project to December 15, 2014. However, next week we start the final project, so I recommend getting as much done as you can this week.
For next class 12/8/14- We will start the final project of the semester. You will be creating a new artwork based on the art of a fine artist of your choice. The artist must be of historical significance (museums, art history textbooks), two dimensional (paintings, drawings, prints) work representationally (no total abstraction), and using color. Therefore you should bring with you a book with color images of work from this artist. (large images from a book will be easier to use than tiny images from a smart phone) If you don't have a particular artist in mind, perhaps a book of a particular period of art history, or if nothing else, a general art history textbook to get you started.
You will be painting the project on matboard, the smooth stiff cardboard used in framing. It's generally available in art supply stores, and is usually stocked at the college bookstore, but I suggest you check that before next Monday. A piece between 15" x 20" and 18" x 24" will do. Standard size full boards are usually 30" x 40", but some stores carry smaller ones. If not, get the full size, we can cut it down, and there's a good chance a few of your classmates will still need one. Also bring pencil and eraser, and all the painting materials you've been using the past few weeks.
