Learning to Paint
For the past 6 years, I’ve driven by the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and pined for the days that I’d enroll in a class. Yet there always seemed to be som sort of excuse:
“I don’t want to spend the money”
Pregnancies - “What if the baby arrives early? I won’t be able to finish the semester!”
Babies - “I DEFINITELY don’t have 3 hours to pop out and be in a class with a newborn at home.”
Work - “How can I coordinate my travel schedule to not miss any classes?”
But then, this Fall I finally decided now’s the time. Maybe the timing was perfect - collecting art has certainly sharpened my eye for what draws me to a piece. Interestingly enough, I think I’m MORE productive having an art class once a week. It’s a combination of the creative release and also knowing that I have limited time to “do it all” when it comes to balancing work, kids, and a semblence of a social life.
The first class, we learned about color theory. Our instructor, had us paint a color wheel to keep on hand for reference. Next we took a large piece of watercolor paper and using a pencil, drew lines and shapes in every which way, overlapping one another to create at least 15 shapes. Next, we folded the paper into four quadrants, and using a palette knife tore each piece apart.
From there, each quadrant became a primary color and the fourth, black and white. We began by starting with one piece and making varying shades of that color, i.e. yellow. Each shape would be filled in with a true yellow, then a white/yellow, then a black/yellow, then black/white/yellow, and so on until every shape was varying shades. It was remarkable to see how much you could transform the color with simply black and white to augment it.
It was the perfect lesson in that it was structured enough to get the ball rolling, but gave you enough permission to feel creative in your own right.
I’ve compiled a list of everything I purchased for beginning to learn abstract painting below:
Beginning Acryclic Paint Supplies
Golden Brand Acyrlic Paints I use (You can also buy a set that will include a good variety of colors even if they’re not exactly what I’ve listed below):
Burnt Sienna
Cadmium red medium
Cadmium yellow medium
Cobalt blue
Dioxazine purple
Mars black or ivory black
Napthol red medium
Phthalo blue
Raw umber
Ultramarine blue
Yellow ochre
White 16.8oz abstract Sennelier brand
