Latrobe High School Spring 2013

I am back at Latrobe High School.  It is a school that continues to amaze me each year that I am asked to return.  The walls are covered with incredible paintings and the entry way still hosts a previous sculpture project of silk scarves hanging as a mobile.

This year, I am working with three classes.  One class I see every day and the other classes I see every other day.  My primary goals are always that the students learns about color mixing and the concepts of Impressionism.  As always, we have only primary colors with our ranges being cool and warm palettes.  We create a sort of cheat sheet with the color mixing while the students learn to tint their colors with white.

The goal of the Impressionists was to find a way to focus on light to help create a mood.  We as the viewer then allow our eyes to focus these small points of light with strokes of color and brush stroke movement to pull that piece together.  With the students, they are allowed their own interpretation of the master pieces that they are using to paint from and to also understand the concepts of composition.

I often refer to to the movement and rhythm of the brush strokes.  In many cases, I have the students do an under painting and encourage their drawing and painting skills by having them work upside down on their pieces.  This allows them to focus more on positive and negative shapes and the colors and brush strokes.

During my down time at school I have been working on some recycled pallet lumber pieces and also working with the student teacher on some painting as well.