No doubt you have noticed the effects of space and distance on the objects in your painting.  Quite simply, those objects that are farther away seem to be smaller than those that are nearer.  Linear Perspective is a system developed to accurately duplicate the effect of three-dimensional distance on objects placed in our two-dimensional picture plane.

You have likely also noticed the effect of distance on color and value which is caused by light rays passing through the microscopic elements and particles that make up our atmosphere.

Aerial Perspective (or Atmospheric Perspective) is the term used to describe this effect. Aerial Perspective is not so much a system, like Linear Perspective, but a set of simple guidelines that help us create the effect in our paintings.

Understanding Linear Perspective will support the illusion of distance in your underlying drawing. Aerial Perspective will help when you are painting and making choices about color and value.

We’ll focus on getting a handle on both this week.

Download Class Info Sheet with Pre-Class and In Class Assignments here. 

Week 3 – Basic Composition

In week one, we explored the idea of dividing our 2D picture plane into three Planes of Space.

It is easy to develop strong, dynamic compositions, by expanding this idea a bit further using a simple approach to value composition.

The pre-class work teaches and practices a simple process for creating an abstract composition from a group of simple non-objective shapes.

This process will also begin to change your impulse toward literalism.  The abstraction process is easy – the mental challenge is not.  The work this week is designed to help break down the mental obstacles that hinder our ability to design space, rather than to re-create reality.

It’s all abstraction!

Our task as artists is to create a dynamic design in our picture plane – regardless of subject matter. As you know, our watercolor paintings usually begin with a pencil drawing. The drawing maps out the shapes of the objects and defines edge boundaries and overlaps.

We all have a strong impulse to draw each object completely – often with in great detail. This method creates many recognizable individual objects that may represent reality. But, it is also likely to break the picture plane into smaller and smaller disconnected bits, making it much less likely to result in a strong two-dimensional design.

The better alternative is to actively design large abstract shapes which are essentially create by merging the shapes of individual objects and elements.

Planes of Space = Value Compostion

As an introduction, we can return to the idea of dividing our picture plane into three general planes of space – foreground, middle-ground and background.

Class Info Sheet Includes Pre-Class and Inc Class Info. Download here.

Up to this point, we’ve covered two important ideas that will provide a strong design foundation in your paintings.

The first was the of dividing our 2D picture plane into three Planes of Space.

The second was the addition of deliberately applying a distinct value to each plane of space – one light, one mid-value, one dark.

Although the mental switch is challenging, these two ideas alone will change your approach to painting and enhance your creativity.

Download Class Info Sheet

This class started with the idea that representational paintings are really two-dimensional designs that include enough visual information to represent a three-dimensional scene.  That idea led us into a simple process for composing our picture planes starting with 2D shapes that represent 3D planes of space and then adding different values to create a strong underlying structure to our work. 

Our paintings, which represent three-dimensional space, must be populated with three-dimensional objects. 

Sometimes it can be difficult to draw complex three-dimensional objects. It is made easier by starting with simple shapes.

Download Class Info Sheet

Showing light and form requires a combination of well constructed shapes and well-placed value.  We’ll continue to work with simple shapes from Week 5, and apply a simple way to place value to show light and give the illusion of three-dimensional shape.

Download Class Info Sheet

Download In Class Info Sheet

We’ve covered a lot in six weeks. This week and next week focuses on putting the composition process into practice.  We’ll also look at textures and edges and how they can be used to show off individual objects and to support the composition. 

Textures and Edges

At its simplest, painting is a matter of creating two-dimensional shapes and adding color and value. Making these shapes visually representative of real three-dimensional objects requires providing the viewer with visual cues to help them make sense of the scene and the objects in it.

These cues can be thought of as symbols that represent some aspect of a real object.  For instance, an oblong oval with nubs at each end and painted yellow is likely to be interpreted as a lemon.  The same shape painted green is likely to be interpreted as a lime.  In this case both shape and color help us understand the object.

One category of symbol is that of texture. Texture is both a sensation of touch and sight.  We can look at the surface of an object and have a good idea how it would feel – be it smooth, soft or rough.  All real objects have an internal and external texture.  The internal texture is what we sense on the surfaces of the object.  The external texture is essentially the edge texture and is often what we sense visually.

Download Class Info Sheet 

Pre-Class Info

This week we’ll get a start on consolidating and incorporating class info into our thinking and process.

One of the things to do is to finish up the cityscape project we have been working on for the past two weeks.  

This week, send your finished cityscape painting.

Also, send the one value sketch and color study used as the basis for your finished painting, which you should also send.

Also send any questions and a note on any topic we covered that you’d like more explanation or clarification.

 IN CLASS

This week’s class is really meant for review of our work over these past weeks.  It will mostly be demos and explanations to answer your questions.

Class Info Sheet