Teaching Research within the Context of Creative Practice: From Abstraction to Representation, Week ll.

Materiality and Colour: Thinking Through Doing - Practice Based Research

Thinking Through The Discipline: Creating a Dialogue
 
Materials:
Brushes, cartridge paper [gessoed], paint and flow medium: Develop a palette of secondary colours using a warm base as a starting point - yellow orange, yellow green, red based purple - develop colours and then tint all colours.

Brief:Body as a tool
Random application using the body and senses as tool - the students are directed to think about how the brush work feels as it responds/reacts to the paper - think of  the direction of the brush work - think about the shapes and the size and scale of the marks made - think about using 'all over' space - think about colour and its temperature - is it flat - what recedes and what comes forward.
The idea is to direct the artists' thinking towards the language of painting - rather than thinking about trying to make sense of this process in terms of 'it doesn't look like a painting yet' - process and experimentation, learning through doing is all that matters at this stage.

The student is asked to consider only the process and actions taking place on the picture plane - only questions relating to materials and colour are encouraged- getting to know what materials can do and how colour is perceived and felt by the individual is of primary importance. Knowing colour and its capacity to change in opacity and transparency  - its temperature teaches the student to think through a process of practice. Discovery = Knowing - finding meaning and understanding through doing all of which creates a personal and embodied dialogue between artist - materials and paint.




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