This 5-day painting workshop provides instruction on color theory, techniques for acrylic and watercolor painting, and guidance on creating abstract paintings based on historical artworks. Day 1 covers brush etiquette and introduces artist Hilma af Klint. Day 2 focuses on color theory, mixing, and artist Robert Colescott. Day 3 involves guided art history research. Day 4 teaches abstraction methods. Day 5 reviews starting a painting and the workshop requirements of researching an artwork, creating an abstracted version with a limited palette conveying ideas.

1. Painting Workshop

2. How do artists consciously
use color theory to convey an
idea?

3. Schedule:
Day 1: Watercolor and acrylic paint techniques and
brush etiquette
Day 2: Color theory refresh and color mixing
Day 3: Guided art history research,
Day 4: Learn how to abstract, apply color theory to
your design
Day 5+: Begin and work on your painting, keeping a
limited color palette that conveys your ideas

4. Day 1

5. Artist Inspiration: Hilma af Klint
Hilma af Klint’s groundbreaking images were created in the early
years of the 20th century – before the dawn of abstract art in
Russia and Europe. Her works are not concerned with abstraction
of colour and shapes for its own sake, but are an attempt to
portray that which is not visible.
Af Klint was born in Stockholm in 1862 and went on to study at the
city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, graduating with honors in 1887.
She soon established herself as a respected painter in Stockholm,
exhibiting deftly rendered figurative paintings and serving briefly
as secretary of the Association of Swedish Women Artists.
Yet while many of her better-known contemporaries published
manifestos and exhibited widely, af Klint kept her
groundbreaking paintings largely private. She rarely exhibited
them and, convinced the world was not yet ready to understand
her work, stipulated that it not be shown for twenty years
following her death. Ultimately, her work was all but unseen until
1986, and only over the subsequent three decades have her
paintings and works on paper begun to receive serious attention.

6. Acrylic vs Watercolor Paints
Acrylic Paint
Form: tube, bottle, jar
Body: liquid to moldable
Surface: canvas, wood,
paper, mixed media
Application of color: work
dark to light
Tint: add white to paint to
make lighter
Mistakes: allow to dry and
paint over
Watercolor Paint
Form: tube, pan, pencil
Body: liquid
Surface: paper
Application of color: work
light to dark
Tint: add water to paint to
make lighter
Mistakes: figure out a way
to integrate them into
your painting or begin
again
Both
Water-soluble
Colors range from transparent to
opaque depending on amount of
water added

7. Brush Etiquette
When working with paint, you should have a cup of water, paper towel, paper
palette and the correct brush for your project.
Leaving paint brushes in the water cup, will soften the glue that holds the
bristles onto the end and eventually cause the head to fall off. It is best to wash
your brush and keep them on the paper towel while you work.
When done working, you should throw out the paper palette, and use soap to
clean the bristles of the paint brush. Then squeeze the excess water out and
reshape the bristles. Place brushes bristle side UP in a cup to dry completely.

8. Before
collecting your
supplies, clear
off a spot on
your table and
put newspaper
down to make
clean up easier
at the end of
class.

9. Day 2

10. Artist Inspiration: Robert Colesscott
Left: Robert Colesscott, Les
Demoiselles d’Alabama, 1985; Right:
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles
d’Avignon, 1907
Here we see a contemporary example
of appropriation, a painting which
borrows its narrative and composition
from the infamous Les Demoiselles
d’Avignon by Picasso. Here Colesscott
has developed Picasso’s abstraction
and ‘Africanism’ in line with European
influences. Colescott has made this
famous image his own, in terms of
colour and content, whilst still making
his inspiration clear. The historical
reference to Picasso is there, but this is
undeniably the artist’s own work.

11. Color Theory Refresh
This project will require you to consider the
meanings associated with colors and consciously
choose what you want your artwork to convey by
using specific colors.
Also, using certain color combinations will convey a
certain mood or idea:
● Warm colors
● Cool colors
● Complimentary colors
● Monochromatic colors
● Analogous colors
● Triadic colors

12. Color Mixing
Being able to accurately mix paint colors is a skill
that takes time to develop. Understanding the
properties of each color will help you develop those
skills.
In general the darker the color, the stronger it is. This
means that you will need less of that color to change
a lighter colors. Subsequently, lighter colors are
weaker and will require much more paint to lighten a
darker color.That means it is easier to add a little bit
of a dark color to a light color, rather than a lot of a
light color to a dark color.
Mixing 2 primary colors will result in a secondary
color. Mixing complementary colors on the color
wheel will result in a brown color.
There are different varieties of the primary colors
that will alter the resulting color.

13. Day 3

14. Project Requirements
• Students must research an artwork from
history
• Students will create an abstracted version
of the artwork they researched using paint
• Student must use a limited color palette
that conveys their ideas - I would suggest
using 4 colors or less (shades and tints of
those colors can be used)

15. Artist Inspiration: Andy Warhol
The five rows of the diptych resemble the movielike strips that acknowledge her status as an
icon.The repetition of her image symbolized mass production, while the diptych style used in
the portrait was inspired by the Byzantine icons of Christian saints. By placing Marilyn
Monroe’s portraits in the diptych, Warhol was commenting on the saint-like nature that fans
assign celebrities, which in turn causes the public to approach celebrities with some sense of
holiness and immortality.

16. Art History
Research
For this project, you will be referencing an
artwork that is already created.You will need to
find out quite a bit of information about the
work in order for you to create an abstracted
version of it.This is often called appropriation.
While there are slight differences to the
definition of appropriation, at its core,
appropriation in art is a purposeful and creative
practice that reuses, references, copies, or
reclaims other artworks or artists’ visual
materials.
I will provide you with a list of links to use when
researching artworks for your project.
Perhaps the original act of appropriation; in April 1917,
Duchamp submitted a urinal the artist had purchased in
the showroom of J. L. Mott Iron Works. He turned the object
on its side and placed it on a pedestal, undermining its
utilitarian associations. He then signed it “R. Mutt 1917” and
named it Fountain. The piece inspired heated argument
among the society’s directors and was finally rejected an
hour before the exhibition opened, but went on the form
the concept of the ‘readymade’ in art.

17. Day 4

18. How to Abstract
We will use the artwork we researched as a reference to create an abstract version.We will
start with tracing paper to allow us to choose the important parts of the artwork we want to
keep and edit out the parts that we do not need then play around with color before moving to
our final version.You will make multiple versions before choosing the one that is most
successful.
Here are tips on how to make your painting more abstract:
● For every two or three marks you make,‘undo’ one by wiping it away.
● Take out the non essentials as much as you can; it won’t always be clear what these are
until you take action but you can lay a piece of colored or white paper over an area
you’re thinking of editing to get a feel for how it might look.
● Use larger tools to help relinquish control
● Start realistic and keep pushing it, softening or partially overlaying edges, adding
textures and loose marks to rough it up.
● Use your non dominant hand
● This never fails to create looser, quirkier drawn lines with real character.
● Use a spray bottle or wet brush to add water in random places on your paper or canvas.
Then start adding colour and see what happens.

19. Day 5

20. How to
Begin a Painting
Acrylic:
● Sketch out your composition using watered down
paint
● Paint elements in the background first and work your
way forward.
● Allow paint to dry between layers if you do not want
the colors to mix
● Paint larger elements first then add in details later
● When painting with acrylics, you do not want any of
the canvas or paper to show through in the end
Watercolor:
● Begin by understanding how the paint will react
differently when uses on dry or wet paper. If you
need to, have an extra piece of paper to test on
before committing marks to the final paper
● Using a light, translucent color, sketch out your
composition.
● Slowly add your composition elements to your
painting. If there are any overlapping areas, allow
them to dry before adding the top layer.
● Paint large areas first and add details later

22. Steps to take:
1. RESEARCH – using the sheet of research questions to uncover
information about your chosen reference artwork
2. SKETCH– test out your ideas using tracing paper and either markers or
colored pencils to explore color combinations. Make more than one
version so that you can experiment with the composition
3. CREATE - using whichever type of paint you choose (you can use both as
well), begin your artwork, using your tracing paper version as a
reference
4. REVISE - if anything is not working as you planned, go back to the
drawing board and figure out a way to fix it
5. CRITIQUE - once everyone is completed, we will critique the artworks as
a class