How
would you explain how to do this to other classes around the world?
Step
by step instructions for plant and pot using blended colour
1.
On a large sheet of card or paper ( about 20 x 30 ) use a yellow oil
pastel to draw a gently curved stem from top to almost the bottom
of the page. It can be central or slightly on the diagonal. Make the
thickness of the stem by drawing another line parallel to the first
so the stem is about 3 to 5 cm wide.
2.
Draw in about 5 leaves, spacing them along them stem so it looks balanced.
Make some of the leaves quite large so they go almost to the edges
of the paper. Try to make the leaves look gently curving rather than
stiff.
| 3.
Draw in a flower pot at the bottom of the page – the plant can
be either coming out of the pot or the pot can be next to the
plant. Make sure it is a few centimetres up from the bottom
edge of the page. The pot should be curved outwards at the sides
and may be tall or squat – make it narrower at the mouth and
base than around the middle.
4.
In the background draw in an oblique line to represent the
line of the table or surface on which the pot is sitting.
Make the line end higher up the page than where it starts,
as this makes it more visually interesting than a straight
horizontal line. This line gives the pot something to “sit”
on and stops it looking like it’s floating around.
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5.
Colouring – The leaves are coloured in warm tones and the
background in cool tones.
LEAVES - On each leaf, start near the stem and starting
with yellow gradually blend the colours in 3 bands from
yellow to orange to red. You may wish to add a 4th band
and make the tips of the leaves purple. Make the colour
changes as gradual as possible by overlapping colours as
you change from one to another. Colour the stem in the same
way, but going vertically up the stem.
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POT
– Choose two colours plus white for the pot. Use directional lines
to shade from the outside edges of the pot to the centre.
Start with the darkest colour, blend to a lighter colour and make
the centre front of the pot white. The white gives the effect
of a highlight on a curved surface.
TABLE
– Choose two shades of one colour plus white. Blend from white through
to dark starting at the closer edge of the table and colouring in
directional lines towards the back.
BACKGROUND – Using a white oil pastel divide the background into segments
by extending the existing lines of the leaves. In each segment draw
different patterns using curved lines. Try squiggles, continuous curving
lines, spirals, short curved marks, long curves etc. Use cool coloured
liquid water colours such as blue, turquoise, green and yellow to
paint wide lines around the plant form. Start with yellow then while
it’s wet paint a brush width of green, then blue. You may wish to
add a band of purple and magenta also towards the outside edges. Colours
should run together, so make sure they will mix well .
How would
you catagorise this type of art Jo?
I’m
not sure how to categorize this style of picture but it is definitely
not realistic. I would tend to call it illustrative or decorative
as it uses techniques an illustrator might use when doing pictures
for a book or magazine. It is common these days to see decorative
art works which use bold colours and shapes so perhaps it could be
categorized as “modern decorative” if there is such a style!
5.
Do you have a favourite artist who uses this style?
I’m
not really up with popular or commercial styles of art but when I
introduced this lesson to the class I showed an example of work by
Reg Mombassa because he uses very bold shapes with blending of colour
from light to dark.(although he uses quite a lot of black and we didn’t)
Reg Mombassa designs for the clothing label “Mambo” and is a cartoonist
and illustrator. I wouldn’t say he’s a favourite artist but I do like
his blending and his cartoons are pretty funny!
6. What would
you change when you teach other classes this?
I
would probably spend a bit more time making sure everyone spent mor
time on the background. Perhaps some practice at doing the white linework
in the background. I would also demonstrate blending the colours in
the background. It could also be helpful to study some actual plants
and leaves first to get ideas for the shapes and curving lines.
