Field to Frame: Composing Your Masterpiece

Description

Do you ever wish you could create your own unique floral paintings? Maybe ones that incorporate all your favorite flowers and leaves, or maybe ones that represent your own local flora? Now you can, with the help of Utah-based artist Annie Mertlich!

This unique online class is NOT a follow-along painting tutorial. Instead, you’ll join Annie “in the field” as she collects local inspiration for her next painting, learning her tips and tricks along the way. Then, you’ll go back to her home studio where you’ll learn all about composition and the steps you’ll need to take to arrange natural or foraged elements into beautiful compositions for painting with a variety of mediums.

MODULE 1-2: Introduction & Materials

Let’s head up into the mountains with Annie! She’ll share what she’s looking for, what to bring on a foraging adventure, and what to do if you’re not able or not allowed to forage somewhere.

MODULE 3: Elements of Design

Annie walks you through the key elements of design that you’ll use in your future compositions, such as line, form, and texture, plus she shares examples and breaks them down by each element.

MODULE 4: Principles of Design

Now you’ll learn how the elements of design translate into certain principles, like pattern, movement, and balance. Again Annie will give you lots of examples and show you why these principles work in paintings.

MODULE 5: A Few Rules to Remember

In this module, Annie shares a few more examples to keep your paintings from having too much awkwardness or “tension,” plus tips for handling those awkward situations!

MODULE 6: Creating Thumbnail Sketches

Learn why Annie thinks thumbnail sketches are the most important, but overlooked, aspect of drawing and painting! In this module you’ll see how Annie explores a variety of composition ideas without a big commitment, how she edits along the way, and how she incorporates the elements and principles of design you learned earlier.

MODULE 7: Arranging a Composition

Watch over Annie’s shoulder as she arranged and manipulates her foraged pieces to align with concepts from her thumbnail sketches. You’ll see how she makes decisions on the fly, when to deviate from a plan, and how to get a nice variety in your compositions.

MODULE 8: Translating to Paper

As a final step, you’ll see how Annie roughly sketches her arranged composition onto paper so that she can apply whatever medium she wants. You’ll also learn how she makes small additions or edits along the way to create a more harmonious sketch.

Note: This class was originally included in the Wildfield Collector’s Pack.