Levels 9 - 10

Level 9
On this level you will draw and paint from photographic subjects and from life. You will draw in a variety of media including charcoal and pastel drawing pencils on both white and toned paper. The latter will include the application of white tones with the tone of the paper serving as the mid-values of the picture. You will have the option of working with pastels, oil pastels, and color pencils. You will also undertake more advanced water color pictures and more challenging life drawings, including figure drawing from life-like miniature models and portraits and landscapes. Life drawing projects will also include the shading, in both black-and-white and color media, of still-lifes composed of objects of various shapes and textures including drapery, objects with transparent and reflecting surfaces, and plaster heads and figures. Your paintings will consist of full-color oil paintings from color photographs and masters’ reproductions. Level 9 also takes you to the highest levels of pen and ink interpretation where photographs are "translated" into the language of formal and informal pen and ink techniques. You will also improve your drawing speed and accuracy by doing a variety of 10 minute quick-sketches from photographs in pencil. During the second part of this level you will use informal pen and ink hatching techniques with a brush and will be introduced to black and white quick-sketching with oil paints.


Level 10

On Level 10, you will take on a challenging and very important project using a process called "cross-contour analysis" interpreting a photograph in ink with a series of carefully executed, closely positioned lines in a manner similar to that used in topographic map making. Your last drawing assignment in this curriculum will be a charcoal self-portrait fully rendered in light and shadow. The main emphasis on this level is drawing and painting from life doing both long studies and quick studies in a variety of media, but with an emphasis on the mastery of oil painting from life, one of the most exciting (and difficult) challenges in the visual arts field. In the process, you will be instructed in the development of palette strategies similar to those used by the masters of the past. These strategies will enable you to maintain maximum control of your colors and values during all stages of the painting process. You will continue your quick sketching practice, this time from life and will do so in a variety of media - including full-color oil painting.

It is important to note that Level 10 is more than the final stage of preparation for your life as an artist. It is your life as an artist. It is what you will be doing for the rest of your life: practice and experimentation. For as long as you are an artist, if you wish to pattern yourself after the greatest of the masters, you will always be a student.

N651 Norman Road, Kewaunee, WI 54216 • 1-800-210-1220