Materials for the third week (and beyond) of my online pilot program “The Making of a Great Painting: Learning How to Learn from Masters”.
Here, in the third week, we are approaching a fork in the road.
One path leads directly to the blank canvas of your final study. If you feel ready (and impatient!) to take this path, please read this blog post before you start. However, have a look at the other parts of this module, too — you might find them helpful: for one thing, there still may be some challenges ahead you don’t anticipate yet, which are better dealt with a bit in advance. On the other hand, these materials might be handy in the course of your final study.
And there are also three other paths, or rather (running away with this metaphor a bit) hiking trails, which will eventually take you right back to this particular crossing, and to your blank canvas. Depending on the painting you are studying, and on your goals, intentions, and skill level, you might decide to take any one of them, or all of them before you can approach this blank canvas without fear. Don’t worry if this takes longer than one week — that’s perfectly all right! In fact, if you want to do all these preliminary studies, they are supposed to take more than one week…
Although the program is formally limited to seven weeks, it might well take longer — as a matter of fact, I have a premonition that I might spend this whole year (on and off) on my own Rembrandt study. As I have already mentioned, I will stay with you as long as you stay with this project (or as long as you need my feedback!).
So, without further ado, here are the links to these three additional trails:
Module 3.1. PICTORIAL SPACE
An exploration into the illusion of volume and space, and its interaction with the picture plane.
Module 3.2. MOTIVE AND SHAPES
A closer study of complex shapes (paying attention to the representational aspect of the painting, or how to make things and people look like they do in the original).
Module 3.3. COLOUR IN-DEPTH
Exploring the inner complexity of colour areas: colour mixing, paint application, “broken colour” effects.