Beyond Observation (Online Course) Fall 2024 w/ Edmond Praybe

October 4 to November 1 (Fridays), 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Eastern Time

**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.

Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.

DEMO: https://youtu.be/XsdgiIT9cQ0

Course Description

During this 5 week course we will investigate approaches to building a painting from multiple sources. Participants will focus on constructing a painting using a combination of direct observation, drawings and color studies, photographs, memory and/or invented sources. We will discuss technical methods and conceptual approaches to effectively construct a painting from multiple assembled images and ideas. Students will be encouraged to consider relationships or form and space, composition, light, color, narrative, unity and juxtaposition. Subject matter/genre/imagery will be the choice of each individual participant.

Over the course of 5 weeks students will create one main work along with a series of supplemental studies. The studies will serve as source images or be used to work out larger compositional, color or value ideas for the major painting.

We will meet virtually once a week via Zoom for topic overviews, instructor demonstrations, slide presentations and group discussions. During our meetings we will discuss technical and conceptual ideas and review historical and contemporary examples for each week’s topic. Students are encouraged to paint along and ask questions during demonstrations. Individual critiques will be conducted over Padlet and will be supplemented by class discussions each week.

Some basic familiarity with oil or acrylic paint will be useful.

Course Outline

Week 1: Generating ideas and gathering source images

Week 2: Beginning the painting, composing and organizing

Week 3: Integrating new images, forms and spaces

Week 4: Editing, removing, simplifying

Week 5: Methods for keeping a painting alive in later stages

Course Materials List

(if there is another palette you are most comfortable with, by all means use it. Likewise substitutes here and there are acceptable as well) Artist grade paint. I use mostly RGH, but any brand you prefer will be fine.

Titanium White

Cadmium Yellow Lemon (or Light)

Indian Yellow

Raw Sienna

Cadmium Orange or Pyrrole Orange

Cadmium Red Medium or Pyrrole Red

Quinacridone Red

Alizarin Crimson

Quinacridone Magenta

Ultramarine Blue

Cobalt Blue

Phthalo Green

-preferred painting medium (I use Gamblin solvent free liquid medium and CAS textured impasto medium)

-palette (hand held or table)

- suggested brushes

-flat bristle: #2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 at least one of each. One or two smaller soft rounds

-palette knife

-container with a lid for solvent or cleaning oil

-odorless mineral spirits or a brush cleaning oil (linseed, safflower, etc.)

-rags or paper towels

-Painting Surfaces: One main canvas, panel or board, primed and ready to paint on, 20”x 20” or larger. Several small surfaces for studies: 2-3 canvases, panels or primed

paper (arches oil paper is a great choice) 9”x 12” or larger

-sketchbook or drawing paper

-pencils and/or charcoal, eraser, pencil sharpener

Additional materials:

-medium grit sandpaper

-gloves

-yard stick/straight edge

-apron/smock

- white of off-white artist tape