First up is ink. On top of the universal basic issues of composition, light, and shadow, students work with a single versatile medium and a simple white still-life. We introduce the brush, the idea of creating tonality by diluting the ink, layering of tones, and creating contour by contrasting fields and shapes. The three keys are Perception, Process and Patience.

Color is introduces as an expansion of the conversation. Watercolor is a difficult medium to master but is very forgiving and very accessible. Hues can be built up in layers, used pure, or mixed from component colors. Intensity can be managed by paint saturation, brush saturation and paper saturation. Students uncover paper “effects” (wet edge, dry edge, wet on wet, etc.). Equipped with some simplified color theory and some playful experimentation, we wade right in, with a full color still life.

Working opaquely with a fast-drying medium means that all colors must, for the most part, be manufactured on the palate. It also gives the artist the opportunity to experiment with the qualities of the paint itself. Brush stroke and paint surface now become more vocal in our painting conversation. Students are given an open assignment and work on a series of acrylic paintings, which allow us to explore together their preferences in these issues and how techniques may be expanded or mastered over multiple works.