Telling Stories With Your Paintings

Service Description

Telling Stories with Your Paintings With Barb Simmons (Made possible by the generous support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation) Do you ever find yourself looking at a photograph and thinking, “Oh, I wish I could paint that!”? It’s not a matter of innate talent or something that takes years to learn. It’s all about simplification. Choosing what is important to the “story” of your painting and focusing on telling it. Learn how to simplify photographs so you can tell the story you want to tell, then paint it. The first session will focus on planning your painting, the second on colour experimentation and painting in the medium of your choice. The instructor will paint in oils, but any medium is fine. The focus is on planning and executing the painting, not how to use the medium. Session #1 Look at photographs from an artist’s point of view. Identify what story you want to tell and learn how to simplify your composition so it’s easier to paint and tells your story clearly to the viewer. Then we will render our image in pencil, paying close attention to value. We will begin with a photo from the instructor, then apply the process to your own photos. Materials Bring a medium and dark pencil (HB and 2 or 4B), eraser, ruler, tracing paper, sketchbook and at least 3 photos printed out (in colour) to at least 1/2 letter page size. Have a digital copy of your photo and be able to edit it so it is in black and white or colour (Using your computer or phone photo editor- nothing fancy). Session #2 This session will focus on colour choices and painting your image. We will begin with your thumbnail-sized pencil sketches from session 1. We will then look at colour and how it can be applied to strengthen our story, and experiment with colour on our pencil sketches with wet media (watercolour, gouache or acrylic, or even pencil crayon). We will then use our sketches to create an 8x10 painting in the medium of your choice. Materials Bring your sketches and materials from session 1. You will also need a multi-media sketchbook or on thick paper that can handle wet media without buckling. You should also bring 3 copies of your pencil sketches from Session 1 to experiment on with colour. I suggest either re-sketching them by hand or using photos to create a page of multiples in a document you can print after. Have an 8x10-sized canvas or paper to paint your finished painting on, plus whatever painting materials you wish to use- watercolour, gouache, acrylic or oils.