Watercolor Abstractions
Working in abstraction with my Art I students has yielded some amazing artwork! They were very open to the concept that abstraction indicates a departure from reality, despite the artwork originating from reality as inspiration. For this project, we used a photographic reference to create an abstract painting with watercolor and pen. An image – in our case a photograph of something recognizable or realistic – started out as an influence, but we abstracted the image through various composition techniques. We went on a nature walk with our phones/cameras to photograph interesting compositions and use nature as a jumping off point for abstraction. Students were given the choice to use photographs from the nature walk or to take a photographic of something meaningful to them. We discussed the different ways images can be abstracted through techniques such as cropping, magnifying, color choice, and others. During the self-reflection at the end, students commented on enjoying the freedom and choice involved with this project and I love how each student’s work is unique.
Student trying different techniques with a variety of brushes and paints
In-progress work!
Example of a finished piece.
Categories Fall 2019, Student Teacher Blog