Interpreting a Still Life (Online Course) Fall 2024 w/ Miguel Coronado

September 12 to October 10 (Thursdays), 2:00 PM to 4:30 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/lbhHcwFkNdw

Course Description

Interpret a still life and delve into the mystery of reality.

Use the logic of the pictorial process and discover the advantages of working in several sessions letting the paint dry. We will talk about the importance of learning to simplify and construct images schematically. We will work on the knowledge of color harmony and discover the brushstroke as a fundamental technical resource to create expressive elements.

This class will help you discover how to introduce your pictorial knowledge to the subject of still life. Working from life has many advantages because we can enjoy the best colors and the richness and surface textures of real-world objects.

In addition, we will reinforce the practical work with the analysis of the work of some master painter.

Course Outline

2.5 hours of online instrucSon in 5 days.

DemonstraSons will be shown on days 1-4.

Slideshows and examples of the works of other arSsts and also with the works of Miguel Coronado.

Students will be able to work from life since it is the main objective of the course. This situation offers ideal working conditions in terms of color quality and the rest of the information that the real world offers.

The student who prefers it will be able to work from photographs. The teacher can provide some reference photographs. The student can use his or her own photographs as long as they are of acceptable quality, avoiding excessive contrasts and an adequate color balance.

Week 1 -

Talk about the language of painting with images of the work of some painting masters. It includes images that explain what my painting process is like with examples of some specific works. I will also show images of finished paintings with the still life theme.

First demo section. Questions and explanations about how to continue with the process.

Week 2 -

Critique of the work done by the student, second demo section, images of other processes. Questions and explanations about how to continue with the process.

Week 3 -

Critique of the work done by the student, third demo section, images of other processes. Questions and explanations about how to continue with the process.

Week 4 -

Critique of the work done by the student, fourth demo section, images of other processes. Questions and explanations about how to continue with the process.

Week 5 -

Critique and slideshow of examples from other artists. Questions and sharing of the course experience.

Course Materials List

Oil colours. These are the ones I use:

Titanium White

Cadmium Red Light

Cadmium Orange or equivalent

Cadmium Yellow Light

Cyan Blue

Magenta

Ultramarine Blue

Cerulean Blue or Phthalo Blue

Burnt Umber

Burnt Sienna

Phthalo Green

Alizarin Crimson or similar

It is important to have the primary colors but the paleDe can be completed with the colors that we want. It is reasonable to have some light colors and some dark ones.

Brushes:

It would be nice to have a variety of brushes with different sizes, shapes, and hair types.

I work with round and flat ox-hair brushes, between numbers 6 and 14 (Escoda).

They are very soR.

I also use flat syntheSc hair brushes. Small and medium size.

The harder brushes (bristle and some syntheSc) load and drag the paint well and the soRer brushes (Ox, marten, syntheSc) deposit the paint very well on the support and do not “scratch”.

1” flat syntheSc brush.

Each one has its funcSon and they are designed for a concrete result.

It takes Sme to know what we need.

Odorless turpenSne (I use it to clean the brushes but also to dilute the Paint at the first stain)

We can use a medium to dilute the paint but it is not essenSal.

I use a quick drying oil medium from Talens.

You could use Liquin if you want. This medium accelerates drying and can be useful when we need to speed up drying.

Roll of Paper towels or old clothes you can turn into paint rags. The disposable paper roll is usually cleaner than the rags. Let's not forget that a dirty rag cannot clean the brush PaleDe. The one you normally use, but it must be medium size and have a smooth Surface.

Small container for your thinner. BeDer width and low.

A paleDe knife.

A soR pencil hb or 2b. I also use some colored pencil to be able to renounce black. I use Faber-Castell but whatever you have will do. Just to make some marks in the paint.

Surfaces. Wooden boards (panels) or canvases (medium or fine grain). (You’ll probably work on just one painSng during the whole Sme we are together. But beDer to have a second surface, just in case!)

Panel/Canvas size: Approximately between 12x16 inches and 16×20 inches.

All surfaces must be prepared with Gesso.

Canvases or panels that are already gessoed do not need to be gessoed again.

Soap for cleaning brushes.