Part 2 Scholarship Week for Atelier Students Aug 2011

                Here we are again in part 2 so that you can remember us from part 1!

Shannon, Anna, Claudia Post, Amber and Lydia

Claudia Post commented on:
Passing on art traditions

I have been a teacher of art and mentor for over 40 yrs. It is one of the most fulfilling endeavors I have done in my life. To share my knowledge, perceptions, philosophies, art experiences over the years, to teach academic fine art, drawing and painting and to teach students to see their world differently and to learn the unique vocabulary of art is exciting and so gratifying. I have evolved over the years of teaching into a true mentor and use an atelier method (apprentice) in which to instruct. I teach all ages of gifted or talented people and bring each of them to a place where they realize that being an artist is not just a profession but a way of life! When the student finally accepts the fact that they are an Artist and it means looking at the world differently and being creative with their lives 24 hours each day. It is not 9 to 5pm and how much salary you make. IT IS A LIFESTYLE. I have found it to be a most profound and healing lifestyle to be an artist. It is a way of expressing one's feelings about what they see. IT IS SO HEALTHY AND REWARDING. The skills, methods, drawing and painting principles, mediums to work with, the practice of eye hand coordination and the understanding of just what side of the brain is used for this creative activity and how to exercise it to nurture it and accomplish goals. It has gotten me through life's challenged, struggles, unexpected happenings and tragedies and has given me self worth, a purpose in life, and respect and a release as well as a way to make a living. I teach my students these things and watch just what they evolve into as artists. I have trained many fine artists and have inspired them to go their own individual ways . I have sent many to art colleges, on professional paths and have seen then flourish in their artistic lives. To share all my art experiences, art skills and art theories and philosophies is my gift to give and leave behind for others. I love the arts and all of the arts are related: dancing, choreography, musicians, composers, writers, sculptors , photographers, etc etc. It is so important in our lives to have these many various arts to leave behind our trace and evidence of our human spiritual existence. I could go on forever talking, sharing and discussing art and the arts . YES TEACHING IS PARAMOUNT AND SHARING THE ARTS SO IMPORTANT AND HAS BEEN FOR ME A LIFETIME OF TRUE FULFILLMENT. Claudia Post , Master Pastelist and Portrait painter and fine artist and mentor

This is a small demo in my technique to begin drawing in pastel. The girls took the photos step by step just to see my lines, my process, my thinking, the build up and my

pressure

This gives you some kind of slow development of the drawing process and how carefully the subject is studied and how light and delicate the drawing steps are so that the artist never needs to erase. You just continuously improve the drawing by drawing and redrawing right through the previous drawing with a darker value pastel and a change of temperature of color



This is Amber almost completed on the third full day of working and learning to use both nupastels and I introduced some of my soft pastels by the end of the day. Her composition and intensity of color is very well done. First time working in pastel

This is Anna and she is almost complete also. She has worked in her childhood a great deal from photos and her sense of value is quite good. Now working from life she will discover wonderful differences in her work and this is the second time working with pastel. Anna by the way is just 14 yrs old.

This is the interior of my studio and workspace. The gifted students are beginning to learn how an artist works, the time it takes and the concentration needed as well as the skills. I time their working time to 30 min. and then they stand back, take a break and evaluate their work before beginning again. They are beginning to bond and to have a camaraderie with their like minded studio partners . Great to watch because usually painting is quite a solitary experience. This is different.

Amber's pastel still life complete. She would have liked to have one more day to finish more completely . Next month when we meet again, I will have her bring this back just to complete the work. It is her first pastel.

This is Anna's completed pastel and the second pastel she has ever done. Her drawing shows her practice from photographs. She has sharp edges etc.
What great promise in her skill!

This is Lydia's still life completed and as you can see it has drama and a maturity in the handling of the pastel as well as the skill in the drawing. The cast of the woman's head looking straight out at the view has impact and the key let's the viewer wonder about it's meaning. Her values are accurate, the building up of the pastel is interesting and she already has a style of her own.  Congratulations Lydia

This is Shannon's work and I think the sophistication of the art work is wonderful. She has a wonderful drawing for each item in this composition and she has employed lost and found edges in this, much like a painter would use. Her use of value, color intensity and color temperature is dramatic and a delight to the eye. Congratulations Shannon!

At the conclusion of three long workshop days these four teens have truly shown their abilities, talents, hard working ethics! Bravo to these future artists and I look forward to continuing with each of them to develop great work, a professional quality portfolio and a resume for their bright futures and for their continuing art educations.
* I will be writing more about my Atelier program in future blogs

Part 1 Scholarship Week for Atelier Students Aug. 2011

Shannon Blencowe, Anna Schull, Claudia Post, Amber Neri, Lydia Tokonow

Each year I sponsor a Scholarship week for gifted or talented students that I find in a local yearly art show for teens.  Nancy Tracy founder of the Tracy Art Center in Old Saybrook, Ct. has been instrumental in this. Nancy herself was one of my students many years ago. She invites me to visit this yearly exhibition and choose from the work which art students I think have special talent and talent I think I might work with. Not knowing whether the work is done by a 13 yr old or an 18 yr old or a boy or a girl, I carefully evaluate the ability I see. This year I chose three students . All three of them, I contact and offer them the opportunity to come to my own private studio to take classes (or should I say all day workshops) under my instruction for an entire week. I give this scholarship opportunity only once each year free of cost. This year I chose Anna Schull to my surprise is only 14 yrs old , Amber Neri 16 yrs old and another student who could not take advantage of the opportunity away at summer camp. This time unfortunately cannot be made up.  I also gave two of my existing students Shannon Blencowe (she herself is the daughter of a fine artist) and Lydia Tonkonow whose mom found me through the newspapers. Lydia started off last year studying under one of my students Shannon Gilmore who is now at Paier College of Art here in Connecticut. When Shannon left me just a couple of months ago, I took Lydia into my mentoring program and she joined Shannon Blencowe.
Four young teens were in my scholarship workshops , two complete beginners and two with experience in my teaching. I train them academically just as I was trained and in the fine arts. I believe in an all round academic art education and exposure to every aspect of art, being an artist, art philosophies, art history, current contemporary artists working today, visits to  galleries, museums etc etc.
This blog is meant to tell my readers about the three full day workshop I conducted last week with my four students. They worked each day from 10am until 4pm and on the fourth day I invited all of their parents to come to my studio with their gifted teens to listen to my individual evaluations of each student and my recommendations to each of them for a continuing art program. I gave each parent two recommendations from two of my past students and their parents who are both now in Art College in Boston, Mass. to insure my intent, seriousness , qualifications and authenticity and successes.

On the first day, the two students already studying with me I considered to be advanced. The two brand new students were my beginners. I wanted my advanced students to listen carefully to how I taught, explained things and what I did in order that they themselves might be called on to teach a brand new student in the future. The first day I talked so much because there was so much to go over. I talked about easels, lighting, standing or sitting at the easel, Art books I recommend for each of them, their supplies, how to use them as a professional would, where to buy supplies, how I expected them to work and to listen. I teach them as if they were in intense training to be professional artists. I talk about my philosophies, my art experiences from my teens to this very day at almost 67 yrs. of age. I talk about not just being a professional artist and learning the skills etc. but also LIVING YOUR LIFE AS AN ARTIST in every way.
What information they are ready to retain will stick. Later in time when they are ready they will absorb more art information.  But at the beginning, I test each of them to see just how much they can absorb, what their attention span is, how serious they are to learn, and the way they handle and respect my private art studio, and the look in their eyes. Believe it or not I can see their passion, and if they connect with the language of art. All four of my students definitely passed the test. Each day I found myself more excited working with them. I wanted to give them more and more.

The first day I asked my advance students to set up two still life set ups in a large still life box propped up at eye level . The box was made for me by my husband and it is just perfect in size and folds down flat to be stored easily. They first draped the inside with a light to middle value cloth and then on each side they chose different intense colored cloth to drape over that. On one side would be a more complicated still life with a cast of a woman's head, a skull, a bottle and a key. On the other side they composed a simpler still life with a simple jug, lemon, apple and orange. They took time to make sure that each artist at their easel had a good view and composition to work with

The advanced students set up their easels on the right side of the studio in order to see the advanced still life on the left side of the box. The beginning students set up on the left side in order to see the still life on the right side of the box.
I even had them set up the proper light to work on both sides of the box. The composition is extremely important and crucial to the success of the work. There was much discussion and each subject really took on a life of it's own in our conversations.

This is one final set up the way it looked for Anna at her easel

This is Anna's view and her beginning drawing for her pastel.

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This is Amber and Anna beginning their drawings.
On the right is Amber drawing from her view of the still life







This is Lydia  below an advanced student working on her view of the still life and is half way completed. Her easel was about 12 ft. away from the still life and I had her tape a 5x7 digital of her view just to look at for detail if needed.

This is Shannon Blencowe working very rapidly at her lay in and building up her pastel layers. She has been studying with me for one year now and is maturing with her drawing and painting.

please see part 2

Oil Painting Beginning Week for Atlelier Students 2011 Aug.

Oil Painting Beginning Week for Atelier Students Aug 2011

Two of my gifted teens in my Atelier program at my studio who have had drawing classes, workshops and pastel classes with me participated in a week long workshop to begin oil painting. Instead of insisting that they make color charts, do tenuous value drawings of casts, I decided to launch them head on into the medium, going from start to a finish. Not using an alla prima approach or  plein air approach and not like classical realism either. I wanted them to feel a sense of accomplishment at the conclusion of their week and eliminate any fear or mystery connected with the oil medium. They already learned the basics of drawing, value, composition and color from me using pastel so now I wanted to transfer that knowledge and experience to the oil painting as painlessly as possible.

On day one Shannon and Lydia arrived with their supplies ready to begin. I laid out a variety of still life items and a middle value cool mauve colored material to lay out as a background into my custom still life box propped up to eye level on my model's stand. I told them to take their time and use the material to drape into the box and to arrange what items they thought should be part of their painting. They created a general compostion for themselves to work with. I approved it and was impressed by the amount of drapery they used and the multitude and complexities of the folds they chose to incorporate. They used one strong vertical that was dark in value and an arrangement of shapes and colors that were artisically place.

We then used a variety of lighting choices to decide what kind of drama we wanted to evoke and what were the shadow patterns going to do for the total look of the painting.

I used a basic palette of primary colors but with a choice of warm and cool of each. So I chose Reds:  Cad Red Lt and Alizarin Crimson

Blues: Prussian Blue and Ultra Marine Blue

Yellows: Cad.Yellow Lt and Lemon Yellow

I added A mixed white, foundation white and a flake white at the end of the work.

I added yellow ochre , raw sienna, burnt sienna and naples yellow.

I had my students use a grey paper palette that they would use fresh each day but use whatever left over paint from the day before as well.

We used a odor free turp and some liquid for medium for convenience and faster drying as well

My students used Raphael linen board in approx. 11 x 14 size . I believe in using "good quality art supplies" with each and every art work created as archival is important to me.

Teaching the students to respect their supplies and the work they create is paramount to me as it gives my students a real sense of what a professional artist should be and respect for their work.

I teach them to take each step of painting with thought, decipline, knowledge and the desire to put their very best into each work they create. I usually have to slow down their process in order to allow them the time it takes to find solutions as they paint.

The still life pictured above is the final arrangement that Shannon and Lydia decided to paint. As you can see in a photograph, there are either cool or warm colors and the subjects have very hard edges. In life our eyes can see both warm and cool temperature of colors and we see soft edges. So working from life is so very important.

This is the layout of my composition in a square format. I chose to crop in every direction and arrange what I thought best for my surface. The class toned their linen surfaces with a turpentine wash of cad.red Lt. and while it dried a little they laid out their paints on their palettes. I positioned myself with my steps of the oil painting just below my students and in front of each of them so that they could watch each step I used in painting my own work. I never left the studio while teaching this class as they needed me to be there in front of them in order to make the progress I wanted them to make in just 5 days. Both Shannon and Lydia used a vertical format for their surfaces and each cropped their still life in creative ways.  I could see that each wanted to be unique in their interpretations of the still life.

This is Lydia's beginning layout in oil , using transparent colors and turpentine washes to cover her linen. The drawing lighting started with charcoal but rapidly proceeding to the oil drawing.

This is Shannon's lay in for her oil and it became evident that my two girl students had different techniques and styles for creating their work. However they followed each step of my teaching . This was important to me, to keep them on the right track of the process but hold on the unique styles that each student has.
Shannon was bolder, darker, more powerful and elongated with her strokes and seemingly unafraid of paint at all. I had to teach her to hold back, be more thoughtful and deliberate with her steps.

This is Lydia's oil still life half way through and you can see from the second photo of her work that she drew right through her oil to correct and make her drapery and bread more structural and she learned to fake the label writing on the wine bottle to appear very normal and not make it stand out

The build up of paint quality each day was evident to my students and they learned about opaque paint over transparent and fat over lean, a common phrase used for painting with more oil content over paint with less. The surface builds up layers of paint as it properly should and the feel of the paint changes. Lydia was strong in her drawing, great with her sense of values and learning to manipulate and handle the various stages of painting. We painted for a timed 25 minutes and then stopped , stood back and evaluated the work and made the proper critiques to go back for the next 25 min. session of working. They learned from my work, from one another's work and from their own work each time. It gave my students a strong sense of the process of fine art painting and confidence as well.

Shannon's work was building up and it became evident to me that she was either going to paint very thickly with a brush or she would adapt wonderfully with palette knife painting. I gave her a smaller palette knife and let her proceed with the process with palette knife painting and she became even more comfortable. It did not prevent her from working at 25 min intervals, evaluating her work, accepting constructive critiques and going back to her work process and making adjustments for a better and better painting. I slowed down Shannon's painting and allowed her to make her work better and stronger with each step. The oil content of her painting glistened with a jewel like quality and the intensity of her color choices just sang out!

Lydia's first completed oil still life after 5 full days in the studio, working 9-4pm each day is successful and the process of creating an oil painting from start to finish will stay with her as she continues her training with me. I advised her to make a project for herself to paint some small 5x7 surfaces with some a fruit or vegetable and complimentary colors for the backgrounds so that she could feel more comfortable with using more intensity in her colors and perhaps see the color temperatures more easily. Time for Lydia to have a small designated studio space made for her in her hone so that she can feel comfortable with herself working more consistently. I will be working with Lydia continuously now for the next two years to build up her abilities, confidence, and her portfolio for a future art career.

Shannon completed a great jewel of a painting and had a little time to set up an orange using a complimentary green blue color background cloth to create a 6 x 8 palette knife painting with some real intense color and texture. Shannon will work with me for the next year to acquire a scholarship to a great art college for the following year. Her resume is increasing in content and her work just changes and grows with each challenge she takes on. I anticipate great new works by Shannon this year.

The completion of a very successful Atelier Oil Painting Workshop with two gifted and wonderful students I will have the privilege to teach, watch grow, and go off to be the artists they are destined to be.

Shannon Blencowe 17 yrs. old

Lydia Tokonow 16 yrs. old

and oh yes studio kitty Jolie!

My demonstration painting for my students to watch step by step by Claudia Post