Lesson Idea: A place of Grace | Landscape painting with Water-miscible oils

So... it's been at least a month and if not more than that since I blogged a lesson idea. It has happened like this not because I have been sitting around twiddling my thumbs but much more because I have been doing this lesson for that long and on Friday was the final day of it!!

I have already blogged about the WiPs stage of doing this landscape painting project with my 2D Design class HERE when I shared about the creative processing related to establishing strong and successful visual composition and then HERE when I showed the students applying color (for underpainting purposes) to their sketched (on canvas panel) pieces. This project was intended to be a very long-term type endeavor both because I wanted the students to do well in painting their selected places of grace landscape paintings as much as I wanted the painting process itself to be a place of grace in the midst of their busy school days. I am happy to report that on both accounts there was major success!!! 

By encouraging and supporting their learning processes of painting techniques and manipulating/working with water-mixable oil paints, they ended up learning not only about how to create some incredible examples of great visual composition not just in the structure of the overall elements of the pieces but also by using color relationships and intentional value work to push and pull the painting in the directions that it needed to go. The students worked from photo reference and they were required to go through a number of stages before they got to the point where they were laying paint to canvas panel. 

If you can believe it, the majority of the student work that I will be showing you was done by students who have never painted in this style/type of painting before. I did a lot of 1:1 consulting with each of them every day to ensure that they would move along swiftly as much as confidently and this project endeavors has turned out the greatest amount of successfully created student artwork examples ever for me!!! I am so incredibly proud of these kids. The below is just a small sampling of what I could have shared with you but I will be doing at least one more round of sharing more examples tomorrow so come back and see me then! 

Each piece was painted on a Blick-brand canvas panel that is 11x14 inches and the brand of paint we used was Reeves class pack of water-mixable oil paints. Also, I went through three entire large tubes of Titanium White (purchased separately) that I distributed/rationed carefully to make sure nobody took more than they needed but everyone got exactly what they wanted.

I just LOVED doing this project and I cannot stress how proud I am of my student artists for turnig out the incredible work they did. Many of them discovered what their personal artistic voices look like and a select few will be embarking on developing what they have discovered and refining it in their own (and mine as well) time. (More about this on another day.)

Anyway, like I said, tomorrow I will share another handful of student samples of this project. Hope you enjoyed the above so far!!

Painting = Finished. Everything else = just getting started.

I am still working on a name for it or even the series/collective that it will belong to but for now I am going to go ahead and call it "The Seven hour painting" because that is actually how long it took me to paint. While the pictures help you to get a sense of it in its finished state, it's truly amazing in person. 

The inspiration was actually an instagram photo I took some weeks ago. I talked about it in my last posting.

That's right. You heard me. That's a 40x40 canvas done with Gamblin brand oil paints, some liquin and some natural turpenoid, and it took me only seven hours. SEVEN HOURS. I seriously cannot believe it only took me seven hours from start to finish. Unbelievable.

I am as astounded by this fact as much as you might be. (Perhaps I am easily impressed? Or maybe I don't know anything about oil painting and large scale painting and this is completely normal.)

Whatever the case, I think it asserts and affirms the fact that giving my professional photography endeavors the "pink slip" from occupying the part of my life it   has was a very good thing. Or, as I like to think of it, very much a GOD thing. I have never ever been able to paint like this. NEVER. I mean, really? But that's kind of the point. I don't believe I did this.

I firmly believe that it was and is the power of Christ working through me to lay out the colors and values on the canvas the way you see it. I mean seriously? I have "dabbled in painting for probably five years or so but I only just learned how to oil paint this past summer in the five week intensive course I had to take at the local community college in order to satisfy some studio art credits for my Masters of Arts in Teaching program. As far as I would tell you (even now after completing this piece) I am a beginner at this whole business of oil painting.

I am still working on figuring out what the Lord wants me to do with my time and talents but I firmly believe that all of this with this painting is something that is very much a part of what He wants for me and from me. Is this the start of me trying to establish myself as a professional working oil painter? I don't know. I really don't know. I am not that concerned with such a thing either. All I know is that the Lord is truly providing me with the thing that makes me happier than anything in the world. And that is to be able to PAINT and CREATE beautiful things as inspired by Him and His creations.

My little girl is more and more inspired and encouraged to work alongside me on her own easel, see? I love the fact that she is learning to associate the delicious smells of oil paints and the colorful marks on a page with HOME. 

While I have not shared the "gory" details of my personal life from the past year or so, I will tell you that I feel like I have been in some serious rebuilding mode. It's been scary and maddening at times and I will tell you that there have been at least a dozen times when I have wanted to look at God and the trials and paces I know He has put in front of me to be tested by (and to choose Him in spite of) and say, "You know what, God? How about NO."

I haven't done that though. I haven't said no to Him. Rather, I have sought shelter in Him and asked for Him to tell me and show me what He wants from me and then comfort me when I have admitted to Him that it's too much for me to do alone.

As things are right now? I feel like I am in the midst of the part of the gospel that is the re-creation of it all. (The gospel starts out with the Creation and then the Fall happens followed by the Redemption and the Crucifixion and Resurrection and then the Re-creation because of it all.) While I know my life can always veer off course back into the Fall again, I know that just like I have in the most recent months especially, Christ is and will be for me always so that I can be redeemed over and over and over again. Lamentations reminds me of then it's discussed repeatedly throughout His word.

If you'd have asked me a month ago if I would be here having these things - an abandoned professional photography career, a fully-functional and actively producing home art studio, and a FINISHED 40x40 oil painting despite the fact that I haven't painted in months - I would not believed you. But because I believe in a sovereign, abundantly loving and forgiving, and truly provident Lord God Almighty, I can tell you that I (indeed) am here and this all is very much happening.

Amen. Absolutely, positively, and as loudly as I can say it - AMEN.

---

UPDATE:

I removed the the light post at the base of the painting because it was driving me crazy. 

I felt like it destroyed the aesthetics, composition/visual armature of the piece, etc. etc etc. 

Check out the below for what I mean...

Life as an art student | Day 7 of 20

Today was the first day for doing a warm/cool value study painting from a still life instead doing a 2D master copy. We started the day (per usual) with a discussion and looked specifically at the Jerusalem Studio School.  We watched a few videos and interviews and really examined the creative process behind creating works from figurative subject matter vs. representational subject matter. I took notes in my visual journal and wrote down both quotes from the videos as well as things my professor points out. I have been taking notes like this for most of the class but have completely forgotten about sharing the pages with you so I'm going to go ahead and do that now.

Here is what I wrote down today...

And here are my pages from last week and then earlier this week (when we watched the video interview with Sister Wendy Beckett)...

When we got into the studio, my focus was primarily on trying to paint a green pepper (given to me by the professor) in warm and cool values. I jumped right in and was happily slapping thick paint all over my paper when the professor stopped me and tried to redirect my strokes. I attempted to steer myself in the way he wanted me to go. He stopped me again and attempted to redirect my strokes again. I went back to work. *Wash, rinse, repeat* about three more times and I was NOT getting it. Below is where I started...

Now that I am beyond that moment, I can better articulate what I was doing wrong:

• I was using WAY too much paint to the detriment of the brushwork and direction of the strokes. 
• I was thinking way too much about the overall image rather than the smaller sections of value and shapes (created by the value)
• I was using strokes that were much to wide, long, etc. vs. shorter/more meaningful/intentional marks (as in Van Gogh's work and the way you can see each individual mark, shape made collectively by the marks themselves)
• I was not changing direction with my brushwork enough to show the planar differences and thus more obvious three-dimensions.

Nearly everyone was being challenged and was (perhaps) frustrated so the professor set up his own easel and then did a great job showing us exactly what we should be doing. I had already sort of figured out what he meant because he gave me some books to look at and when I finally saw him lay down half a dozen strokes on his own canvas, I was full confident and I went ahead and painted alongside him - laying down my own strokes and then checking my workflow against his. I'm happy to report that I was REALLY able to improve my work to the point that when he stopped by my easel to check my progress, his first reaction was, "WOW" followed by more constructive feedback that included affirmations that I definitely was doing things better and right this time. Here is my easel set-up and place where I stopped at the end of today.

 

And here is a closer (though poor because I took this with my camera phone) view of what will likely be my completely finished piece.

Tomorrow I will be working on another warm/cool value study of a yellow pepper (the professor wants us to do a cool vegetable and a warm one) and we will also be glazing (with oil paint) the work that we do in order to start using color correctly.

Life as an art student | Days 5 & 6 of 20

Started class yesterday and today in the usual way - spending time looking at the works of those more experienced (and accomplished) then all of us students and then discussing things.

Yesterday we actually watched a video as well and it was so good (I thought) that I copied down all of the information about it to try and convince my department head to get a copy of it so it could shared with all of the art students at my school (visual, performing, vocal, instrumental). It was an interview with Sister Wendy Beckett (Part one is here but it's only five minutes of almost an hour).

This morning we looked at some Vermeer and talked about the importance of not just taking but wisely using "artistic license." I'm REALLY learning a lot and I definitely feel like this whole experience is going to strengthen not only me as a visual artist but also me as a visual art teacher. I have so many things that I want to share with my students already.

I started this piece yesterday and this is what it looked like at the start of my painting today. The original (photocopy given to me by my professor) is on the right and my version is on the left. I have been REALLY challenged by this exercise because I've kind of felt uncomfortable working from two dimensional subject matter vs. a still life. I've stuck with it just the same and yesterday (at the end of class) my professor insisted that I was pretty close to done (it was just as pictured below) and I would probably need to just "clean up the edges" today.

Today I worked on it and was able to call it done after maybe an hour and a half of working on it. I felt better about it but mostly I was feeling worn down and ready to look at something/work on something new.

My professor insisted that it was good and gave me the go ahead to go to the next exercise - still a value study from a 2D work that had been photocopied as grayscale. This time I was able to tint the grays with warms and cools (reds and blues) and that was a little more fun for me but mostly? I was frustrated and I finally figured out that 1) my eyes were worn out from looking only at value in grayscale and 2) I needed to stop holding myself back from using my hand as a palette (what I normally do) and just let go a little.

Amazingly, once I did that, I felt so much more confident and worked without realizing how close to the end of class I was - only realizing the time when everyone else around me started cleaning up. I don't think I'm done but my professor gave me some solid feedback along with some very strong assertions that I wasn't just doing fine or good but I was doing very well per his standards. He said I have very strong technique that will translate well when we finally get to oils tomorrow and that I also am really showing a good strong artistic voice while also capturing the essence of what I'm painting. Funny because when I looked at it I couldn't stop saying to myself, "Your proportions and scale are off. This is not good."

The below will get a little more work tomorrow and then I will move on to my next piece will utilized grisalle work (I'm so excited about it!!!) with more tinted value study work (of a single piece of fruit - still life finally!) followed by color glazing in oil.

Lesson idea: The Broken Window Painting

One of the mainstay projects for 2D is a painting in cubist style. I usually do it early as the second or third project (of a total of eight for the semester) for the sole purpose of getting the students to push themselves out of their comfort zones. I use it to help them understand the importance of the creative process as it pertains to their soon enough finished work of art. It also helps for them to understand that the style of non-objective art isn't something that is perhaps as random as it might seem.

In the past I've taught them cubism in a different way and after doing it that same way for at least three rounds running, I was just sick of it. I stumbled upon this lesson idea inspired by Paul Klee and it appealed to me not only because it was something fresh to try but also because it definitely encouraged the students to invest themselves on skills that were very necessary for good technique.  The 2D class is a foundational course but I always push them to invest themselves as much as possible and still try and be as polished as possible.

The main reason why I liked this project was because it allowed me to weave meaning into both the creative process and the finished pieces. Since I started teaching at my school, I've done my best to encourage all of the students to not create art for the sake of art but for a purpose that goes far beyond that. I work at a nondenominational Christian high school and for us as a school community, we do things to glorify the Lord so when we create, we are creating because He created us in His likeness (as scripture teaches) and since He was the greatest creator of all time, I encourage them all to believe that they have the power of creativity and the ability to create within them no matter what.

A fellow art education blogger mentioned earlier today on twitter that he was interested in infusing more meaning into the creative process/art lessons. I wanted so badly to speak up about the way I do things but I am always hesitant to do so. Why? Well, despite the fact that I am an active follower of Christ and His teachings and that encourages open evangelism, I am careful how I do it. There was a time when I wasn't so deeply rooted in my faith or active in and of my belief and I remember how it felt to be assaulted by the "idea" of Christianity. It always felt like people were throwing bibles at me and that only made me want to dodge them rather than catch one or hold onto it in any way. I am aware of the bad rep Christianity has in this world and I'm not interested in feeding into that any more than I need to. For that reason, I'm careful about how and when I bring it up.

Anyway, my point in even saying it here and now (because this is my blog and perspective so it's only fair that I practice a little more "freedom of speech" here but if it makes you feel uncomfortable, I understand and I'm sorry to have offended you) is that visual art can be such an amazing vehicle for so much more than just teaching art. I use ever lesson to instruct about life and (as I understand it) how life can be made more meaningful and worth living.

For this broken window painting, I presented the project to the students with a powerpoint that showed them photographs of real broken windows.We had discussions about them and I asked them how windows can be so broken but still manage to hold themselves together in their total forms. The students were unsure. I offered them this explanation...

"The windows are whole but their broken pieces support each other. That's the amazing thing about broken windows. They are broken yet somehow they stand together and whole. Broken windows are very much like people. People are broken in every number of ways yet we still walk around trying to hold things together as best as we can. For the most part, people can do it. At least it looks that way from the outside. They do indeed appear whole but really? Their lives are so fractured and if you looked inside of them they would look as broken and would indeed be as fragile as a broken window definitely is. One tiny little touch and they might fall to pieces. Something else about people? They can be broken and shattered and then still be broken again within their broken pieces. People who exist like that are even more fragile than the others. When brokenness occurs on top of brokenness, you have to be so careful not to disturb it or even the slightest bit of window will send it into a state that is completely impossible to repair. Yet, just as I mentioned before, you can't tell? And that's the problem, we are all somehow broken deep down inside - some more than others - and for this reason we must be more gentle to each other (no matter our beliefs or backgrounds) in order to fully live out the gospel according to what Christ teaches."

 If this sounds like some seriously heavy ideology to lay upon a bunch of high schoolers, well... it is! But I'll have you know that I do this with them on a regular basis. Definitely it helps that I am at a Christian school to begin with so I can even talk about things in reference to scripture and something as hard hitting as Christianity but I cannot even begin to tell you how it has transformed the way the students invest themselves in their art.

Showing them how greater meaning can exist in not only a finished piece of art but also the process itself pushes them to transcend beyond the paintbrushes they might not care to wash out correctly or the paints that accidentally get splashed on their clothing. For them, designing their pieces, fabricating them, and then having them evaluate the job they have done becomes something that makes art sacred to them.  It's because of this that the art studio classrooms are treated as sacred places that they aren't just required to respect but that they want to respect.

I consider myself a Christian artist that is a part of a community of many other Christian artists who also happen to be students in any one of my classes. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what does it mean to be a Christian artist and I feel like I have finally figured it out. It doesn't mean I should be making pieces that are solely focused on illustrating Bible verses or depicting Christ's crucifixion over and over again or using strictly religious symbols like doves and olive branches or arks filled to the brim with two-by-two animals. I think being a Christian artist is much more about answering the call I have always had inside of me to create with all of myself and to do that as well as I possibly can. I believe being a Christian artist is about looking at life as it is and really examining it in order to understand how a belief and following of faith can bring beauty even if that place is one of tragedy and pain and anguish and a place that is seemingly full of nothing but hopelessness.

Life can be many things but as far as I'm concerned? Why not regard at as something that is much larger than itself and is worth a whole lot more than we could ever imagine.