Into the Blue

What is Studioworks Creative Academy?

Hello there my creative friends! I’m so excited to bring you this class! Over the past several months, I’ve been studying the art from Picasso’s Blue Period.

Why? Well, let me tell you...

Exploring emotional subjects, pushing color and expression, stretching drawing and painting skills - ALL of it has been life changing and so inspiring. I’m feeling bolder and more true - excited to break rules and delve deeper! It is full of incredibly moving pieces that express emotion and connect to deepest parts of us.

I believe so much can be gained from working in a limited palette. Not only does this put helpful parameters on the array of color choices but it allows the artist to explore value, composition and color relationships in a very focused way.

I think studying a body of work from a past artist can help us understand a better way for us to create our own body of work - building a connection between the pieces of art we create and our own story.

I would invite you to join me in this study and gather with us in the classroom.

A DOSE OF ART HISTORY

As always, I like to include some academia in my classes. It is vital to study the artists that have come before us. This slideshow and lecture will discuss many of the pieces in Picasso’s blue period.

COMPOSITIONAL STUDY

I will also include an in depth study of one of Picasso’s most famous pieces from this time period - “ The Old Guitarist.” We will begin to understand the way Picasso composed this artwork and how he achieves success by employing the powerful principles of composition.

SKETCHING IN BLUE

These short warm up videos will show me sketching from difference references. I will be creating these sketches in blue, with washes of ink and other mixed media. I work from mostly historical images depicting poverty in Victorian England and imagery from a fishing village in Whitbey, England.

INtro to OIL PAINTING

If you have always been scared of Oil Painting get ready to shake that fear and fall in love. I will walk you through the very basic and SAFE way that I use Oil Paints. They are absolutely dreamy, I promise! *** This class can be completed using acrylic paint too!

COLOR MIXING

I will show you just how many beautiful blues, greens and other hues we can get by mixing primary colors only! Blues come in a amazing myriad of gorgeous shades! We will explore as many as we can, plus we will also experiment with blue’s complementary color - orange. Just as Picasso did!

Following this work, we will move through three Painting* projects...

*(all paintings in this class will be done using oils but acrylics may be used instead)

PICASSO STUDY

We will choose a piece from Picasso’s blue period and do a small study painting, putting into practice all that color mixing! By copying one of his pieces, we will better understand how he uses color, form, value and composition.

BLUE PORTRAIT

For this next painting, we will create a monochromatic portrait. I will have beautiful, vintage images for you to use as your reference. Picasso often depicted the poor, the blind - the social outcasts of society during this time and we will do the same. Using an emotional reference will help us create a more emotional and expressive portrait.

BEYOND BLUE

For our last painting, we will draw inspiration from the other scenes Picasso created where he incorporated other hues. We will create an figurative scene in a full range of blues, greens and touches of orange and red. Again, I will have wonderful historical images for your to work from. We will create an underpainting and move into evolving the layers to complete the piece.

BONUS LESSON

You know I couldn’t resist adding a bonus! Right? Lol! I do love spoiling you guys…;)

We'll create an abstracted face in a Picasso/Ivy style! I really enjoyed simplifying the shapes and creating rhythm in the shapes and lines. This is a fun and relaxing project that helps us see shadow, light and structure in a whole new way.

Here are some of the things I will cover within the class: 

• Learn more about Picasso and his Blue Period

• Compositional tips and tricks

• Getting inspired from the masters

• Creating thumbnail sketches and planning out a painting

• Creating fluid sketches in blue

• Into to oil painting including how to use mediums

• Mixing paint from the primary colors

• How to do a study of one of Picasso's works

• Using your brushes in different ways

• Creating an emotional portrait using historical imagery

• Creating a figurative piece using historical imagery

• And more...