VIRTUAL WORKSHOP
Automatic/Expressive Drawing

How do we perceive what we observe and how do we translate what we perceive into an abstract language? By investigating the processes of observation and painting, this course introduces students to the exploration of abstraction. Students experiment with both oil and water-based media, use direct and indirect painting approaches, develop a strong base of technical and conceptual knowledge, and discover how visual metaphor and material processes work together. Students are encouraged to experiment with individual interests that emerge from color study, drawing exercises, and visual projects to find their own abstract language.

Dive into metamorphosis, the state which not only defines nature but also the process of painting. Using nature as source material, we read, discuss, observe, and then embark on a painting journey, thinking about painting as process and movement rather than as a fixed form. Students explore ways to talk about nature with paint without needing to reproduce observations in a literal way, melding abstraction and representation, discovering and producing depth, and allowing an image to float to the surface. We learn to develop form, mix color, and consider composition, all inspired by what we see around us.

Bring the face and figure to life with the transparency and immediacy of watercolor, an extremely expressive media that can also be highly controlled. With daily demonstrations and a series of simple and accessible studio exercises, students develop skills controlling resoluble colors, reserving and pulling back highlights, and maintaining brilliant and delicate tones that are unique to water-based media. We work from life as well as photographic sources in this deceivingly direct paint medium, capturing the essence of the portrait and figure by taking time to look and record what we see.