Continuing our exploration into color theory, the homeschool students delved into red this week. I wanted them to look at color temperature within one color to demonstrate that all talk about color temperature is relative. There are cool reds with bluish undertones and all reds do not mix with blue to make purple! These students are learning by doing and it takes less and less talking and explaining as time goes on because they are becoming familiar with the concepts and materials, and whether they are aware of it or not, they are flowing with the progression of the classes. We do have fun and I hope that is what they know about their experience!
Alizarin crimson was the favorite of the reds, at least for the girls, and that is what I remember because I am in total agreement about this. Alizarin Crimson is the queen of reds and I would be happy to roll around in a big tub of it it is so yummy. It was almost that messy this week in class and I think it had something to do with the excitement inspired by the color red that it was quite a bit messier than usual. After everyone chose one of the reds paint (we also had light portrait pink in there), they made a value scale with the straight paint as the middle value and two tints with white and two shades mixed with pthalo green. The students were amazed to use the complementary color to make the reds darker, having expected to use black. They also learned quite a bit about the tinting strength of their paints from the mixing involved in this exercise. It seems in painting, as in life, everything is relative.
Once they had mixed five values, the students began painting a value study of a bottle with a definite source of light. Some worked from a photograph I provided and created detailed works. Others took it as a jumping off point and created the bottle in the light they wished to see. One painted in the light source. All the students grasped the concept of viewing objects in terms of lights and darks.
You may notice that we had a guest student with us this week. Austin is a cousin to Rachel and Wilson and wanted to come along and do some art with us on the same day his regular art class happens back home. Austin is great kid to have around and we wish he could stay longer and paint with us more. I enjoyed visiting with him and he said he liked how small our class is. I think he had a real good time. When I post the photo of the table with all the extra red paints added to it, you’ll be able to see where he left his mark by adding his initials.
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