Underlined items provide links to other pages on this site, or to other web sites.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY COLLEGE: PAINTING 

Painting I - Assignments

ASSIGNMENT 2

Due: week 3

Part 1: Grayscale Chart
(Read all instructions before beginning)

1. Make a chart like the one shown below.
2. Fill the square labeled “black” with black paint.
3. Paint the “white” square with white paint.
4. Using a palette knife, mix together equal parts of white and black paint to make a “50% gray.”
5. Paint the center square with the “50% gray” mixture, saving some of the paint for the steps that follow.
6. Divide the remaining “50% gray” into three more-or-less equal piles.
7. To one of the piles, add an equal amount of white paint and mix them together to make a new color that is “25% gray.” Paint some in the appropriate square. (Note: save some of this color.)
8. Divide the remainder of this new “25% gray” mixture into two piles.
9. Mix together equal amounts of “25% gray” and “50% gray” from piles you saved from the steps above. Paint the resulting “37.5% gray” in its proper square.
10. To the remaining pile of “25% gray” add an equal amount of white paint, mix them together and paint this new color in the “12.5% gray” square.
11. Using the final pile of “50% gray,” repeat steps 7 through 10 to complete the scale. Where white paint is called for in the steps above, however, use black paint to produce a “65%,” “87.5%,” and “62.5% gray.

 When you are done, the strip should go from white to black in equal steps. The numbers in the chart refer to the amount of black paint in the mixtures.

Part 2: Mixed Grays

The purpose is to learn to make gray without using black paint so as to produce more interesting grays. You will make three sets of grays: green + red, yellow + violet, and blue + orange (note that these are complementary pairs).

To complete this part of the assignment, you must begin by creating a set of the required secondary colors as follows:

• Green = azo yellow or cadmium yellow + ultramarine blue
• Violet = ultramarine blue + alizarin crimson
• Orange = napthol red or cadmium red + cadmium yellow

Set up three rows of boxes like those in the illustrations below, and then proceed as described.

Fill the first row with the red + green series:

1. Using a painting knife, add some white to the green paint to make it paler.
2. To the pale green, add a tiny amount of red. As you continue to add small amounts of red, the color will get duller. When the balance of green to red is about right, the mixture will seem gray. Paint some of this mixture in the middle square labeled “Gray-0,” saving the rest of the mixture for the steps that follow.
3. Divide the remaining paint into two equal piles.
4. To one pile, add a tiny amount of green so that it is barely distinguishable from the original gray. The result will be a slightly greenish gray. Paint some into the “Gray+” square.
5. To the other pile of Gray-0,” add a bit of red paint so that it too is just distinguishable from the original gray. Paint it into the “Gray –” square.

Fill a second horizontal row with the violet + yellow series, following the same procedure as above.

Complete a third horizontal row with the blue + orange series:

ASSIGNMENT 3

Due: week 5

Instructions

• On a small canvas, do a painting of three eggs on a plain background with a strong light directed at them. Use only white paint plus colors: yellow ochre and ivory black.
• As you paint, take time to carefully study the eggs (look for the features referred to in the handout, “Chiaroscuro: Modeling Form With Light and Shadow.”
  • Look for areas in light and areas in shadow and compare their relative values (degree of relative darkness and lightness).
  • Be aware of reflected light. Reflected light will often make the shadow side of the egg appear a little paler near its outer edge.
  • Also look for the penumbra: the darkest area of the interrupted shadow on a spherical object, it occurs near where shadow meets light.
  • Keep in mind that interrupted shadows on a spherical object like an egg do not suddenly end; they usually transition softly into the area of light.
  • Don’t forget to include cast shadow(s) in your painting. A cast shadow is the shadow an object “casts” onto another surface. Depending upon how you have arranged your eggs and the light, some eggs may cast shadows upon other eggs as well as onto the table. Cast shadows can, and often do have hard edges.
• Be aware that a warm light source (such as a lamp) produces cool shadows. Therefore:
  • Areas in light are not only paler (more white paint is used), but are also warmer in color, so the mixture should also have more yellow and less black paint. (Note: In areas getting the most light, your mixture may have no black paint in it at all.)
  • Areas in shadow are darker (less white paint is used) than areas in light and are cooler in color; in this case, your color should have more black paint and less yellow paint. (Note: In the darkest shadows, your mixture may have no yellow paint in it at all and perhaps very little white.)
  • Light has color and should never be represented by white paint alone.



ASSIGNMENT 4

Due: week 5

Instructions

• Complete the assignment as soon as possible so it
  will be dry when you turn it in. 
  
• You may use canvas paper, stretched canvas, or canvas board.
• Make a grid of 1" squares as shown in the diagram . If the colors in your kit do not all match those listed, make a grid to accommodate similar colors.
  
• Divide each square diagonally as shown.
• In the top halves (labeled “A”) paint 2-color mixtures. (Note: Some A-squares will be a color mixed with itself. For example, the A-section of the upper left square in the diagram is lemon yellow mixed with lemon yellow.)
• The bottom half of each square (labeled “B”) will be a 2-color mixture plus white paint.
• Make paint mixtures for each square as follows:

Step 1:
Using a palette knife, mix together equal amounts of a color listed along the left in the diagram with a color listed along the top. (Ex.: Yellow Ochre + Burnt Sienna.) Paint the mixture in section-A of the appropriate square. (Note: save some of the mixture for the next step.)

Step 2:
Mix together equal amounts of white and the paint saved from Step 1. Paint this mixture into section-B of the same square.

Step 3:
Now make a new 2-color mixture, such as Yellow Ochre + Ultramarine Blue. Paint some of this into section-A of the appropriate square, saving some to mix with white. Next, add an equal amount of white to the mixture and fill section-B of the same square.

Step 4, etc. 
Continue in this manner until the grid is completely filled in.

ASSIGNMENT 7

Due: week 10

Instructions

• On an approximately 16" X 20" canvas, paint a self-portrait/
• Direct a strong light at your face, but arrange it so that it does not shine into your eyes or cause glare on your canvas or in the mirror.
• Use the “Self Portrait” hand-out provided in class as a guide.



<Return to top>