Drawing/Painting II students spent a couple weeks learning about Abstract Expressionism and the works by MAS artist, Joe Bussell. As a result of their research they were to create three (3) large scale paintings using non-traditional tools such as a putty knife. Below is a snapshot of their work. In addition, students had the opportunity to Skype with the artist.

A Reflection by Allison N

I just sort of went for it. When I started the first painting, I had no clear idea in mind, I just sort of started putting paint on the paper and it went from there. The only thing I had planned was the colors, each of the paintings have a color scheme, they aren’t just random colors thrown on the page, they all have something in common. The first painting was different shades of a lavender-purple sort of color and the last two were three pastel colors, pink, blue, and yellow. I think my paintings in particular are unique because of the colors I;ve chose, I think it gives off a more ‘playful’ and ‘lightness’ sort of feel.

I actually really enjoyed using the palette knife, it was surprisingly satisfying, the way the paint glided. I think it created a nice blend when you used multiple colors, and sometimes layered the colors with just a single stroke.

I think I created a overall feel pretty well. Each painting, to me anyway, gives off a certain feeling, for example, the first one I did gives off a feeling of motion, two things responding together as I’d put it. I think I used the color element of this project to my advantage, I wanted to used colors that would go well with each other, that I knew wouldn’t give an ugly color if I mixed them together enough. I used geometric shapes for my third painting, which was a technique that was suggested.

I knew right away that I wanted one of the paintings to look as if two different ‘forces’ were responding to each other in some way, so the first painting I did was planned. The second painting was sort of on a whim, I put a line going through the entire thing and kind of went from there. The third painting was also sort of spontaneous, though I wanted it to have clean, straight lines, which I did achieve.

I only used one, and that was a pencil. I didn’t use it a big way, I mainly used both ends to make large circles and well as smaller circles and then I made small groupings of them scattered in particular places that I’d picked. Since the painting I had used this tool for was so geometric and clean, I wanted to use to circles and dots to create contrast between the two opposite shapes.

GALLERY

Painting by Tyler G

Painting by Emma A

Painting by Rita D

Painting by Marcos S

Painting by Molly G