On-line class with Jane Davies, Part 2

Lesson 4

My on-line class "Keys to Dynamic Composition" with Jane Davies continues.


Jane has a rather unusual approach to the design of her instruction. She is very specific and exacting in the assignment for each lesson. By limiting the parameters of the exercise, she expects to drive home a very specific learning.

Lesson 4

In Lesson 4, we explored Pattern. Pattern can be seen as being on a continuum with texture, with pattern a stronger element and texture more subtle.

We were required to begin with a painted background, and then add small, medium and large pattern elements, some denser, some sparser. We could apply paint directly, or print onto the surface using a variety of found objects, like the eraser end of a pencil or a bottle cap. We were encouraged to experiment with different materials, like marker pen, water-soluble crayon, etc.

Jane suggested that my results would have been livelier if I had used more variety of colour and value in my background painting, and I have to agree.

Lesson 5, Part 1

The topic of Lesson 5 was Line. We warmed up by using a variety of media to make lines on paper: bold, hesitant, thin, thick, staccato, serene, etc.

Lesson 5, Part 1

Our first assignment was to take three squares or rectangles and arrange them in a grid-like format on a painted background.

Lesson 5, Part 1

We were to work in an analogous colour scheme and in a small format. I cut my shapes from cloth and used matte gel medium to glue them to the paper.

Lesson 5, Part 1

Then we were to add a single line, black, white or coloured. The line could connect the shapes, bisect or divide the shapes, move tangentially beside a shape, reinforce a shape, or add a new element to the composition.

Lesson 5, Part 2 Open Grid collage with line

The next part of the assignment was to collage coloured papers to an unpainted surface in an "open grid" formation, that is, a grid-like arrangement of squares and rectangles that had open spaces, revealing the background.

Lesson 5, Part 2 Open Grid with line

We were then to add a single line to the composition, a line that moved from one edge of the paper to the opposite edge, and that acted to unite or divide the shapes, to reinforce the shapes or to add another element to the composition.

Lesson 5, Part 3

Cloth shapes collaged onto paper

in cruciform

Finally, we were asked to revisit one of the formats we had used previously:

- a gridded collage of squares and rectangles on a painted background
- a vertical landscape collage with paint
- a cruciform collage on a painted background
- patterning using only paint, without collage, or
- an open grid

and to add line to it to enhance it in some way.

Above, after adding paint, texture and line

I decided to attempt another cruciform composition, using collage and paint. This time, rather than using papers cut from magazine or painted collage papers, I turned to my collection of hand-dyed and patterned fabric and fused the shapes cut from cotton to the paper background with iron-on web.

Lesson 5, Part 3
Cloth shapes collaged onto paper
in cruciform 

Admittedly, I have been chafing at the restrictiveness of the assignments, and my own awkwardness at handling paint, but this final exercise became an "Aha!" moment for me.

If I could "collage" cloth shapes to paper, I could also "collage" cloth shapes onto cloth. I could use patterned cloth, hand-dyed cloth, or cloth that I paint myself, using silkscreen or monoprint to add texture.

And for line, I could use stitch.

Above, after adding paint, texture and line

I'm hoping to have an opportunity to incorporate some of these approaches in my own work when the class is over.

It would give me an opportunity to work larger, and in a more abstract way, embracing pattern and colour, but essentially with the same basic shapes that are so fundamental to my cityscapes series.

Experiencing a class in another medium may have turned out to be just the fresh perspective I have been waiting for.

Bring on Lesson 6!