Amazing+Art+WestGATE+2014



Three groups of artists from Western Southland met with artist and tutor Mrs Karen Pringle as we learnt about painting.

**Painting Sunflowers** Sunflowers are repeating patterns. They start smaller in the middle and get bigger. • Mrs Pringle had pictures or templates of sunflowers as our model. She had coloured sunflower pictures and black and white copies of the same pictures. • The black and white gives you the tonal changes because you can see where the dark and light is. • The colour pictures show the paint colours to select. **Sunflower background** • We painted the background first using blue and white paint and blending it so the shades went from dark to light. **Drawing on the sunflower** • Once our backgrounds were dry we used a white pastel pencil to draw the sunflower outline. We had to think about pattern, pattern changing and pattern repeating. Some are on top, some are underneath, they aren’t all side by side. The ones underneath are darker than the ones on top. • Decide on the middle of the flower. Roughly do the outline. Then put in the outline of your petals. Then go back into the middle and decide how the pattern will go. • Some of us used tracing paper and a template to get the outline. **Painting a textured middle of the sunflower** • Brown paint in the middle, then add some yellow and brown outside that and then orange. You can use a little red too. • Use an old brush where the bristles are splayed out a bit. Dab with your brush, go up and down with your brush and the paint will dry like that too. **Painting Petals** • Sunflower petals are an orangey yellow. There are lots of options for colour mixes. You can check the colour against the colour picture to check your mix is right. brown and red brown and yellow yellow and white orange and yellow • It might need a couple of coats to make the colours stronger. • We painted the petals yellow. We went slowly so we did nice shapes. • Then we used a thin brush to flick a little orange line along the edge of one side of the petal. **Sunflower stalks and leaves** To get the variety of greens you can mix paints. Dark green is green and black. Lime green is green and yellow. Light green is green and white. Olive green is green and brown.

**Outlining and finishing touches** To outline the petals you might use black paint and a fine brush OR a pencil.

**Painting Lotus flowers** Lotus flowers have a repeating pattern in the petals. **Background** We blended green/white/yellow for the background. We used carbon tracing paper to transfer the outline of the flower to the green background. Then we used a white pastel pencil to go over the transfer outline. **Painting Petals** • Each petal is a little work of art. We mixed red and white to make shades of pink. Make sure you mix up a good batch of the colour so you have enough for all the petals. • Start painting each petal at the edge and blend in more white as you come into the middle of the petal. Use a couple of coats of paint to layer it up. • Then use just a little red to make the shadow where the petals overlap. You can also use pencil at the end to give more definition. **Painting the centre** • Dab some yellow and orange in the middle. • Then do yellow around the edge. You can texture it by lifting your paintbrush up and down. • Then use the littlest brush to flick some orange paint over the top to give a soft fluffy look. Start with the driest petal first. • Finally add some little yellow dots for the seed heads. **Outlining and finishing touches** You might use a fine red brush to outline the petals.
 * Drawing on the lotus flower **

**Painting Still Life Vases** **Background** • Paper is landscape layout. • Draw a pencil line about 2/3 of the way down the page. On A4 paper, that’s about 8 cm up from the bottom. • Use a big brush for doing the background.

• Purple and yellow are complementary colours.

• For the bottom, start with yellow and white. That’s the table that the vases will sit on. • The next part is purple, yellow and white. Put water on your brush to get a nice straight line with a steady hand. Purple and yellow make a lovely brown colour. **Drawing on the vases** • We used carbon transfer paper to transfer the outline of the vases to the background. • Then we used a white pastel pencil to go over the transfer outline. **Painting Vases** Use only yellow, purple and white paint. Yellow and purple are complementary colours. • For each vase use purple paint for the darkest part. Use yellow for the middle shade and white where the sunlight makes it look lightest. Blend the colours together where they meet. **Outlining and finishing touches** • Shadows go on last. Draw them in with a pastel pencil so they stay in proportion. Mix purple and yellow paint to make brown paint for the shadows. • Look from a distance and check if there is anything you need to change.

**Painting Still Life Ship** **Background** • Portrait layout. • Draw a horizon line about ¼ way from the bottom. • Start at the top ¾ and paint blue right across the page. White at bottom and work right the way up, blending. • For turquoise mix green and blue paint. Paint that in a big stroke across the bottom ¼ and blend in with white from the horizon line. **Drawing on the ship** We used carbon tracing paper to transfer the outline of the ship to the background. Then we used a white pastel pencil to go over the transfer outline.

**Paint or Mixed Media Ship** • Some of us used colouring pencil for the ship. It’s called mixed media when you have paint and colouring pencils. • Some of us painted the ship. The darkest part was brown and we blended it with white paint.

media type="file" key="Year 1-3 Amazing Art.mov" width="396" height="372"media type="file" key="Year 4-6 Amazing Art.mov" width="392" height="384" media type="file" key="Year 6-8 Amazing Art.mov" width="396" height="372" **Painting Pearls from Mrs Pringle** • Nothing is ever ruined in painting. You can always go over it with more paint. You can lighten or darken it. • Opaque is when colour is thick and you can’t see through it. • Transparent: is when colour is thin and you can see through. • If you look at a black and white picture it helps you see the shades of light and dark. Then you know where you need to lighten up your painting with white. • Definition is the difference between dark and light. At an edge you want it to stand out, so you make the contrast strong. In a smaller area, it is harder to get the light and dark contrast, but it is still important. • Choose the brush size to suit what you are painting. If it’s a big space, use a big brush. If it’s a little space, use a little brush. • Make shadows using the complementary colour • Make darker shades using complementary colours. There’s a progression in learning as an artist. • You start by copying other people’s work as you learn the techniques of art. Mrs Pringle says it’s helpful to have things to support you at this stage so you end up with a good piece of art. That’s why we used templates or black and white photos and carbon tracing paper to help us. • Then you transition to a combination of using other artists’ work and your own creativity. • Finally you combine your creativity and art techniques as you make original art works.

**Artists need art supplies.** Art Supplies Southland in Invercargill is a good place to get paper, paint, transfer paper, pencils and great advice. []

// **If you are interested in going to art classes check out these links** //

• //[|www.childrensartexperience.org.nz]// // • Errolyn Taane has Tuesday art classes for all ages. // // Phone 2159747 //

• //Smart Art with Cindy Clark at Centre Bush.// // • Helen Coulter // //on phone 03 2360752// [] []

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 * Here are some places to go to see the artworks of some Southland artists. **

// **When you leave high school** //** 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) []