Color Pencil Class #2

The good news is that today is not as hot as last Tuesday.  Almost nothing could be.  The room looked more are less as I needed.  So I did gather a few things stored in my Studio, some blocks and my framed boardwalk print, still there from making copies for Jeanne.  I learned that Jeanne would not be there today, so I was teaching by myself.  No problem for me, so I just had to hope they could understand me well enough.  I had also brought with me the last pad of figure charcoal drawing, as examples of portrait drawing for the student who is trying that right now.  All I needed was students.  But first Rosemarie showed up, having missed a week and ready to go.  Then Shay came in.  It was Shay that asked for a pencil sharpener, which we didn't seem to have, an issue in a pencil class, nor did we have a wastebasket, which we used to have in that room.  I had left my pencil case at home today (it's full and very heavy) so I went down to the office to borrow a sharpener.  And I thought I saw some garbage cans out by the front door, and sure enough there was one there.  Also found my other two students there, so I had all four today.

The assignment was to continue last week's project with color palettes, a concept new to all of them, which is kind of a problem- they should have learned about this stuff earlier.  It's my standard assignment from 2D class, except for pencils taking the place of acrylic paint.  Some of them have some experience with watercolors and/or oils, so the discussion also included pigments, and mediums. Everyone was very impressed with the woodcuts I showed, and so I was asked if I will be teaching it, because they all want to do that.  Fine by me, but the building has to decide what they want me to do, not me. 

Last week I had remembered to bring my camera, but was so busy teaching color, that I forgot to take it out and take photos.  So I brought it back today.  One of my students left today before I took any, so I made sure to get it out and take some photos of the class working with pencils, as this is something I didn't have at all in my files.  Here's what I got:

Above are some long shots of my small but active class in action.  Below a close up of Carolyn working on variations of an old boot, and doing a pretty good job of it, a monochromatic palette in orange, and a complementary one with blue and orange.  She may also try an analogous combination with orange, I guess her favorite color.   

By the end of the day, not quite four hours into the project, no one had finished it, though at least most had done some drawings as starting points.  And some seemed to have discovered that specific palettes do result in some potentially interesting art.  One student said she was very excited to try a complementary painting in blue and orange (oil), while another was very pleased with her drawing in blue/yellow/black/white, and wanted to try a painting like that (watercolor).  So I guess that the project was partly successful, if it got people excited about the possibilities of color.  Next week we begin a two week project involving a color still life and the concept of local colors.  Hope they enjoy that as well.