1.Trying an art process
Use only red, yellow and blue mark making tools. (Can be crayon, marker, highlighter, colored pencil, paint, whatever you have on hand). Choose an object around the house which includes green, orange, and/or purple. Using pointillism (aka only dots), try your best to “mix” colors by interspersing different colors and proportions of dots. You should be able to get a range of hues (colors) and values (lights and darks)! Ie a yellow-orange will have a higher proportion of yellow dots than red. If light is hitting it, try spacing your dots further apart. If it is in shadow, space your dots closer together. You may want to add more blue dots to “darken it” in the areas of deepest shadow. Have fun with this – remember it’s not a studio class so the result does not need to be perfect! The point is to better understand the pre-Modern art movement’s play with light and optics by trying it yourself. I will be able to tell if you spent some good time and effort on it. Here is one example:
2. Let’s do another hands-on practice here.First, look at these “Cubist Still Life” images by Roy Lichtenstein. What objects is he depicting? How many angles are we seeing those objects from? How does he break up the picture plane?Now, make your own. Remember, this is not a studio class so you won’t be graded on making “excellent” art. The idea is to try some of the art techniques – in this case combining multiple viewpoints in one drawing. Show me you put in time and effort. The result does not need to be perfect. Trust me I will know if you put in time and effort.
- Choose a set of ~3 objects in your own space which exemplify this Pandemic year to you.
- Arrange them in space together. Think about the background -you could lay them on a draped and bunched cloth on a table, or arrange them in a windowsill, etc.
- Now set up a workspace with some paper, and use pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, paint, marker, makeup, whatever mark-making tools you have around the house. Don’t buy extra supplies for this. Well you can if you want, but you don’t need to. Ask me if you have trouble or need ideas, we can come up with a plan together.
- Use a ruler to make at least 3 lines which divide the paper. The lines can be vertical, horizonal, or diagonal. Or some combination.
- In each space that is left, draw the still life you arranged from a different point of view. So you can fill up 1/3 of your paper by drawing the still life from the left side, then move to the center and fill up another 1/3, then move further to the right and fill up the last part of the page.
- Upload photo(s) of your drawing. Add a quick reflection on your process. What was it like drawing the same object from multiple angles? Did the final composition make sense? How does it help you understand Cubism in a different way? How does this compare to the linear perspective process you tried a few weeks ago?
