Description

LEVEL 2 CURRICULUM (2)

Level 2: Paint Foreground Detail in Acrylic Seascapes Syllabus

Recommended Materials:

• Acrylic Paints: at least all the primary colours of any brand, but not inferior to say, Artist’s Loft
• Paintbrushes: starter kit specific to acrylic paints
• Ruler
• Pen or pencil
• Canvas: 20 x 24-inch canvas is a good size to start with. You can also buy canvas prints at thrift stores that you can paint over. Ideal but not essential: prime your canvas first with a light colour of paint and leave to dry (you can even use emulsion house paint)
• Water jar
• Palette (can be a frisbee or for example recycled margarine containers)
• Drop Cloth to protect your carpet
• Table surface or artist easel
• Old clothes that you don’t mind getting covered in paint!
• A heater that it’s safe to lean your painting in front of for a quick dry

Itinerary – Day 1: Rocks & Stones part 1

Overview of skills transformation in Day 1:
By the end of Day 1 you will know how to:
• choose eye-catching subject matter to paint
• effectively map and plan out your foreground
• include three general sizes of stones and rocks in your foreground
• create a sense of scale and distance
Tip of the day:
There is nothing uniform about rocks on a beach; always jumble shapes and sizes together and be consistent about it.
• introduction – getting to know you *This course follows on from Level 1, but it’s possible there will be students joining for the first time and some brief preliminaries may therefore be needed.
• grasping the concept (class discussion): discussing stand-out details of a photo
• choosing your subject matter
• blocking off and preparing foreground
• scale and perspective: from close-up to farther away
• outlining shapes to establish foreground elements
• perspective and establishing scale
• a reminder of light vs dark (“values”)

Itinerary – Day 2: Rocks & Stones part 2

Overview of skills transformation in Day 2:
By the end of Day 2 you will know how to:
• Use stones and rocks to distribute colour
• add shade and light to rocks and stones
• tie in sky colour with light on rocks
• fade out detail as it gets further away
• create a wet look for your stones and rocks
Tip of the day:
Stones are almost never one colour, and individual stones and rocks often have dozens of colours.
• sharing our paintings so far
• discussing several photos to brainstorm details, characteristics, colours
• creating 3D stones and rocks with shading and light
• aligning light and colour with sky colour
• creating natural perspective through fading out details
• giving stones and rocks a wet look

Itinerary – Day 3: Driftwood and Barnacles

Overview of skills transformation in Day 3:
By the end of Day 3 you will know how to:
• plan and paint driftwood, sticks, leaves, rotting wood
• paint and layer barnacles on rocks and other surfaces
• distribute features across your entire foreground for more authenticity
Tip of the day:
Beaches are living ecosystems embodying perpetual cycles of renewal, adaptation and decay. It is an artist’s job to incorporate these themes.
• identifying “scattering” patterns of driftwood
• mapping out driftwood
• painting wood details and colours
• adding light and shade to driftwood
• painting and layering barnacles on fixed objects
• ensuring consistency across your foreground

Itinerary – Day 4: Detritus, Puddles & Seaweed

Overview of skills transformation in Day 4:
By the end of Day 4 you will know how to:
• create details suggestive of age and decay
• paint human-made detritus that blends in with natural elements
• paint seaweed clusters on rocks
• paint puddles
Tip of the day:
You should paint in the old before adding the new (the light) on top.
• identifying human-made detritus in a photo and how it blends into the natural environment. Brainstorming other examples of human-made objects we may find on beaches
• mapping out and painting chains and ropes affixed to objects commonly found.
• painting clusters of seaweed
• painting puddles that reflect sky and surrounding detail
• sharing our paintings so far and discussing “aha” moments