Awesome+Art+Central+2013

Mrs Karen Pringle is a well-known artist based at W.E.A. in Invercargill. She specialises in acrylic paintings. We loved learning about painting with her for 2 days.

**Check out our awesome art here.** media type="file" key="Awesome Art at Lochiel School.mov" width="300" height="300" media type="file" key="Awesome Art at St Thomas'.mov" width="300" height="300" **We learnt how to blend paint as we made up a landscape.** Here are the steps we learnt from Mrs Pringle.



**We learnt how to get perspective in landscapes.** Here are the steps Mrs Pringle showed us.

**We selected a photo to paint a landscape.** Mrs Pringle had lots of photos from Southland and Otago. We started with the horizon line and then penciled in the lines of the sky, water, mountains. It was a great opportunity for us to apply the techniques we learnt in the morning.

**We learnt how to draw buildings.** Here are the steps we learnt from Mrs Pringle.

**We learnt how to paint stones.** Here are the steps we learnt from Mrs Pringle.

**Here is an A-Z of some things we learnt about paints and painting.** • Acrylic paints have a plastic base and are quicker to dry than oil paints. You can add lots of water to acrylic paint to make a watercolour wash.

• Blending is when you mix 2 colours together where they meet on your painting. You can brush the colours into each other so that there isn’t such a contrast. You don’t want a line when you are blending. • Brushes come in different sizes and can be straight or angled. An angled brush can be used to make a thick line or a thin line, depending on how you hold it. Worn brushes can be used to create texture in a painting, by dabbing the brush up and down on the paper, using a reasonable amount of paint. Use a bigger brush for painting bigger areas and a fine brush for smaller areas. Big brushes are great for sky, sea, sand and fields. • Contrast is the difference between light and dark. It creates realistic images. The greater the contrast of colours next to each other, the better the contrast. So paint dark- light- dark – light. • Dry brushing is when you put wet paint onto dry paint. It can add more contrast by putting more light or shadow in your painting to make it look more realistic. • Green shades Start with green paint. Olive green – add brown. Lime green – add yellow Pale green – add white Dark green – add a little black Turquoise Green – add blue • Hair dryers are useful for speeding up drying the paint. • Oil paints are thicker than acrylic paints and take longer to dry. • Perspective is about what is up close and what is far away and how you paint or draw it so it looks realistic. Think where you are standing to look at the building or landscape. • Buildings that are “front on” are the easiest to draw. • Buildings that are “on the angle” are a bit harder. The part of the building closest to where you are standing is bigger and it looks like it is getting smaller the further away you go. The vanishing point is where the top line and the bottom line of the building meet. These drawings by Riverton artist John Husband are good examples of perspective. • Roads are drawn narrower at the back and wider at the front. • When you paint it, it’s darker at the front and lighter at the back. • Things get smaller and closer together the further away they are. • Photos to draw from have maximum contrast in them. The best time to take photos with maximum contrast and shadows is early in the morning or late in the afternoon. • Rags are useful to take extra paint off brushes so you don’t need water. Rags help keep brushes dry so the paint colours stay intense. • Shading helps show where the light is coming from and it helps give perspective. We used lines for shading. Pointillism uses dots. The dots are close together for darker areas, and further apart for lighter areas. • Signatures Artists usually sign their name or initials in the bottom left or bottom right corner of their work. Decide how you want it and then sign in black permanent pen. • Water is great for cleaning brushes when you have completely finished with a colour. If you have too much water on your brush it lifts the colour off your paper. If this happens, you’ll need to dry off the paper and then paint again. • Watercolour Wash • Photocopy your drawing if you want to practice painting with a watercolour wash. A watercolour wash is made from a little acrylic paint and lots of water. Instead of using the watercolour wash to paint the whole picture, you can choose to paint the building only, or only the background or a feature in the background. • Work quite quickly as the watercolour wash will dry very quickly. • White pastel pencils are great for drawing outlines. The marks will wash off with painting making them invisible in your finished painting. Use a little water to wash off any that still show.

**Here are some useful places to buy art resources.** • Art Supplies Southland, 130 Dee St, Invercargill [] • Watch out for specials on art materials at places like Spotlight, Paper Plus, Whitcoulls. Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery.

**Check out these online links about art.** [] [] [] you tube How to paint you tube How to blend acrylic paints you tube How to paint with perspective you tube How to draw buildings you tube How to paint stones

**Here are some places to go to see the artworks of some Southland artists.** [] In Invercargill: Southland Museum and Art Gallery Anderson’s Park Art Gallery The Bank Art Gallery City Gallery on Don Street In Gore: Eastern Southland Gallery In Riverton: Riverton Art Centre

**If you are interested in a career in art you might like to study at** • Elam School of Fine Arts [] • Otago Polytechnic School of Fine Arts [] • Southland Institute Technology (SIT) []

**Mrs Pringle thought we had awesome artistic talent.** **Here are some careers she recommends that need artistic creativity.** Architects, builders, engineers, fashion designers, film and digital media, florists, interior decorators, painters, teachers, urban designers.