kcp – Artblog

As you may have read in a previous article, I started to give painting lessons at a near-by community centre. These painting classes are meant for each participant to share and explore their creative potential. My job there is to assist each of them individually in the creation of an artistic painting.

Fleurs et Fruits by Henri Fantin-Latour (1865)

It is the first time that painting classes are held at that community centre and it is the first time that I’m giving painting lessons – so I’m learning along the way, too – and it turns-out that I’ve got this small class made-of complete beginners. It doesn’t make my task very easy but it’s fun nonetheless.

Painting consists of exploration and careful planning. I’ve observed that beginners seem to lack holistic, or “big picture” thinking, so to speak. In other words, they are painting in the now without foreseeing what they are going to do next. Of course, it’s difficult to do so when one doesn’t have any idea of what can be done with oil paint and what different approaches can be used – I’ve got to give them something to work with – so that prompted me to get started on new painting projects, which I’m going to use as examples for my students.

There are many approaches that one can use, the most obvious one being “Alla prima”  or direct painting which hence the name, consists of directly applying the paint onto the canvas without much planning. More spontaneous and intuitive, this method works well when first learning to paint but the more approaches one knows, the more equipped he is to get the results he hopes for and be satisfied with his creation.

Dry brush technique on coloured ground:
I thought my students the use of coloured grounds already but what good is that without examples of what it can be used for? Henri Fantin-Latour, one of my favourite impressionist painters often used coloured grounds as a background for his still life paintings. Traditionally, burnt umber, yellow ochre or otherwise “earth” colours were often used for ground colours but other colours can be used.

In this example I first applied a turquoise ground colour. Once the ground was dry, I transferred my sketch onto it and then I applied with a hog bristle brush some dark brownish kaki I made, using the dry brush technique. This method consists of brushing a small amount of paint onto the canvas. The rough texture of the canvas lets some of the ground colour show through. Where you want darker values, simply go over adding more paint as many times as needed to achieve the desired value.

So far this painting has only two colours (turquoise and dark brown-kaki) and already the painting makes sense and serve as a good starting point. That way, I know more where I’m going.

I’m so thrilled! This September I’m starting to give oil painting classes in a near-by community centre. I wanted to get a job like this for a long time. I been teaching cartoon illustration to kids in various community centres in the last few years, in hopes to make myself known and work my way up but I’ve found that it doesn’t quite work that way. Most centres that have painting classes serve a clientele that can afford them and the materials. Also, often the painting teachers at those centres have been there for a long time and aren’t likely to quit… I don’t blame them ;)

So I kept sending resumes until luck finally struck, when this community centre in my neighbourhood called me up. They didn’t have a painting/Art teacher and they were looking for one, and get this: they’re buying all the materials, brushes, paint tubes, easels… you name it! I was blown away but it’s a really great thing. You see, there’s lots of poverty in this neighbourhood and for a lot of people it is unthinkable that they can afford the materials plus the cost of the painting lessons. So this community centre buys the materials and offers classes at a reasonable cost. And, it gets even better; their philosophy is to never refuse someone who wish to participate to an activity because he can’t afford it. They’ll work something out instead.

That is so fantastic I think! Painting is such a beautiful discipline and it wouldn’t be fair to deprive people of it just because they are poor. It isn’t just a creative discipline, it is also an opportunity for people to go out, meet others, share and explore together, and not to forget relaxation and other “therapeutic” benefits of painting.

I want to give my students the choice of working from photos, from model or from imagination, so I been preparing, gathering photos, pictures of Great Master’s paintings, old illustration books and props to bring over there to make still lives. Anyway, I’m really, really excited and looking forward to start teaching my first painting class in a couple of weeks.