In this 5 week, 3 hour class students will use nature as a jumping off point to explore abstraction and expressionism in oil paint. Students are encouraged to bring in organic objects, plants, flowers and photos that inspire them for composition, shapes and colors, as inventing a palette that feels honest can be just as difficult as inventing an abstract composition that feels true.
We will play between creating intuitively and closely observing our sources. We will discuss how to ground these works considering more formal elements of composition and how choices made in color, saturation, temperature and mark making impact the way the viewer navigates the piece. We will explore how to create depth with color, layers, pattern and varied mark making. We will look at the work of artists such as Joan Mitchell, Georgia O’Keefe, Wassily Kandinsky, Cy Twombly, Jenny Saville, Suzanne Jackson, Dana Schutz and Norman Lewis for inspiration. Materials List Registration Policies