Preparing ourselves for the O Level 3 week prep work:

How to draw and paint faster.

USE A GROUND

There are many benefits to working on a ground. One of these is increased painting or drawing speed. A ground covers a painting or drawing surface from the outset. It can act as mid-tone, with

only black and white used to apply dark and light areas (as in the examples below) or be left partially visible in the final work. This

results in an artwork that is much faster to complete.

INCORPORATE MIXED MEDIA /PATTERNED SURFACES / TEXTURAL ELEMENTS

As with using a ground, patterned, decorative or textural items can cover areas of an artwork quickly. Although this strategy should be used with care, selecting only materials which support or enhance your project (usually with reference to a relevant artist model) this can be a great way to speed up your project and introduce creative use of mixed media.

USE MASKING TAPE TO CREATE STRAIGHT EDGES

Masking tape creates straight edges in seconds. Once mastered, this trick can save you hours – and make your paintings sharper, cleaner and more professional in the process.

LEAVE ARTWORK PURPOSEFULLY INCOMPLETE

Artist work is sometimes purposefully ‘unfinished’. Art students shouldn't feel obliged to ‘complete’ every item. There are many occasions when a fully rendered drawing is not necessary. Drawings, especially those in sketchbooks, can be left with edges trailing away and tone only applied to some areas. Leaving work unfinished is particularly useful when conducting visual research, exploring ideas and experimenting with media.

INCLUDE PHOTOGRAPHSWhile there is a certain quantity of painting and drawing that must take place within a Painting or Fine Art portfolio, photography can provide an excellent mechanism for moving a project forward at a faster pace.

In addition to helping with composition planning, photography can be collaged into artworks or used as painting ground. If the photograph remains visible in the final work, less paint needs to be applied, thus speeding up the art-making process.

USE A BIGGER BRUSH

There is something surprisingly liberating about painting with a bigger brush – especially if you have previously worked at a microscopic scale, picking out detail the size of a pin prick. You will soon discover that it is just as easy to achieve clean edges with a larger brush and that an unexpected level of detail can be achieved.

Be more gestural

Images can be created quickly, using rich, expressive mark-making. Those who have only produced realist, tightly controlled drawings usually take some time to adapt to this approach and not all students find it easy; selection of the right drawing tools and mediums can help. Charcoal, chunky 5mm wide graphite leads, big brushes and paint applied with pieces of card all lend themselves to gestural mark-making .

Next week’s agenda:

Monday: 1040-1140• Continuous line drawing of Apple in pencil (15 mins)• Continuous line drawing of Apple in marker (15 mins)• Realistic drawing of Apple in pencil (30 mins)

Wednesday: 1040-1140• Sketch or draw Apple and paint with washes (20 mins)• Sketch or draw Apple and color with color pencil (20

mins)

Friday: 1040-1140• Demo on impasto work by Miss Bella 15 mins• Impasto work of Apple 40 mins