ONLINE: Figures in the Landscape – Pastel Painting, with Betsy Payne Cook

Presented by the Cultural Center of Cape Cod on five Tuesdays, beginning March 2, from 2-4:30pm. This class meets online on Zoom. Your class confirmation email will contain the Zoom class link. This class is not a figure painting class but one in which figures act as supporting elements in the landscape. We will work on proportions of figures (human and animal) and explore expressive ways to suggest but not detail figures in the landscape. As a carry over to the previous session on painting structures in the landscape, students will develop an eye for the composition, value/notans, and color, using the figurative component to enhance the painting. Class will focus on simplifying figures, choosing vantage points, and using other design elements. Demonstrations, direct instruction, and paint time will all be part of the class. Students will also use wet underpainting with either pastel and alcohol/water or paints such as gouache, watercolor, acrylic inks. Ideas for reference photographs include images in which the figure is silhouetted or backlit and multiple figures that create a mass of shapes. The instructor will provide a photo reference each week, to be used for practice only.