Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Holland, and I'm so excited to be teaching you today for our art lesson.

So, our art lesson today is all about mark-making, which is really exciting 'cause we can build upon our knowledge we have already of mark-making.

And this is part of our unit, "Abstract painting: Sustainable materials." Our outcome today is about selecting and refining our mark-making techniques in response to different stimuli.

And our key keywords, which we will of course revisit and learn more about during the lesson are technique, medium, and materials.

A technique in art is a specific way of using tools and materials to achieve a particular effect in an artwork.

A medium is the material or substance like watercolour, oil paint, or charcoal that an artist uses to create their artwork.

And then materials are the physical items that the artist uses.

So that could be brushes, or again paper or fabric.

And our lesson today about mark-making is in two halves.

The first half is about choosing our techniques and mark-making.

And the second half is about experimenting with them and then refining them.

So let's get started.

Choosing techniques and mark-making.

Artists often get their ideas from stimuli.

What is a stimuli? A stimulus, the singular of stimuli, is anything that sparks their imagination.

So anything that sparks your imagination as an artist is a stimulus.

The word stimulus comes from the meanings "stimul," which is to urge or to provoke, and "us," which is something that causes the response.

And stimulus can be very broad and can come from anywhere such as images or texts, sounds or music, feelings or memories, and textures or objects.

So if you were to look at that list, can you think of any stimuli within that really sparks your imagination? Is there a certain song or piece of music that really sparks your imagination? And often, object might actually spark our imagination in terms of evoking, bringing back a memory.

Examples of artists being inspired by various stimuli are, Cy Twombly.

Now, Cy Twombly was inspired by Greek and Roman myths as well as the text and language which can be seen in his very expressive mark-making.

So when you look at his works, it's very, very expressive.

Vincent Matthews is inspired by the stimulus for architecture, so the built environment.

And he has produced several graphic style drawings looking at local buildings.

Are there any local buildings in your areas that would act as a stimulus for you? And then Peter Doig often draws on dream-like landscapes as a stimuli for his paintings.

Artists choose specific techniques to match the mood, feeling, or energy of their stimuli.

So examples of this include Judith Geichman, who uses paint in physical ways to explore her emotions and imagination.

Oscar Murillo, who uses vigorous, layered brushwork to explore his cultural identity.

And Salman Toor, who uses the subtleties of colour through his use of paint to create atmosphere in his work.

So artists, such as these artists, are using different techniques to match the mood, or feeling, or energy of what they're trying to express in their art.

When observing an object closely, such as a shell, we can see a wide variety of surface textures.

And I'd like you to take a moment now just to have a look at this shell.

If you really look closely, you can see so many different textures within it, spiky textures, curved textures.

And artists use mark-making to create surface details and textures in their artwork.

So we can use mark-making to recreate some of these surface textures.

We asked some Oak pupils here considering how best to represent this stimulus of a shell.

And Sofia says, "The surface texture of a shell is very rough and bumpy.

And there are many marks I don't know how to draw." So she's worried.

Well, Jun is trying to help.

And he says, "I think it is a good idea to try to match the technique, materials, and medium you choose to use before you start your drawing.

So, consider those three elements, the technique, the materials, and medium before you start your drawing.

Artists begin by observing or considering the stimulus carefully before selecting the best technique or mark-making to match the mood, feeling, or energy of their stimuli.

So Jun is saying, looking closely at this shell and thinking about how he's helped Sofia previously, "The shell is rough and has dramatic waves across the surface that create movement." Can you see that? Look really carefully.

You can see these sweeping waves.

So he thinks it would be effective to use expressive mark-making.

What technique, materials, and medium do you think the artist here has used to create these drawings? So they've created a drawing of the shell.

What technique, materials, and medium do you think the artist used to create these drawings? And of course, Jun is the artist and he has said, "I've used the medium of ink on paper to make very loose and rough marks." And he used a stick and paintbrush to create interesting textures.

So let's have a really close look again.

And you can see this lovely layered feeling of the ink, soft colours, and the different textures created by using a stick and paintbrush.

Artists can use traditional or non-traditional materials and mediums to respond to stimuli adding their own style.

So here, this artist has used different mark-making techniques to understand how to describe the surface of a very textured shell.

So can you see here, this artist has used a stick and ink to really try and show that rough texture of the shell.

Check for understanding.

True or false? It is important for artists to choose a technique to match the stimuli they are responding to.

True or false? Well done.

It is true.

And why? Have a real think about why this might be.

Yes.

And if you've got something similar to this, that's great.

So artists carefully choose a technique to effectively translate the stimulus into the intended visual effect.

So, we use different stimuli for different methods.

So we might use loose washes, impasto, detailed line work, collage, et cetera.

Matching that technique to stimulus ensures the artwork communicates its idea effectively.

So thinking about the stick and the ink that Jun used, that effectively communicated the rough texture of the shelf.

Artists who have used specific techniques, other than Jun, to match the stimuli they're responding to, include, Ceija Stojka.

Stojka would work on paper, cardboard, or jars, and frequently applied paint directly with her fingers as well as with toothpicks, which are very small, thin, wooden sticks, to convey her emotions and history as a survivor of the Holocaust.

Kate Atkin uses pencil to create detailed, large scale drawings to depict precise reality of nature.

And Philip Reinagle used watercolour to convey a gentle feeling of a seashell.

A check for understanding.

Which statement is true? A, Artists pick the paints, papers, and tools that they have to hand.

B, Matching technique to stimulus ensures the artwork communicates its idea effectively.

Or C, There is no connection between the materials and the stimulus.

Well done.

Yes, of course it's B, matching technique to stimulus ensures the artwork communicates its ideas effectively.

Thinking back to those artists such as Stojka who did this, and Jun himself who did that when drawing the shell.

Andeep and Sofia are discussing the importance of considering technique and mark-making when planning an artwork.

Andeep says, "Considering a technique helps you capture exactly what inspired you and whether it's the roughness of a stone or the sparkle of light on water." And Sofia says, "If materials and methods suit your stimulus, you can then express your idea more effectively." So Sofia's learned from Jun earlier on in our lesson, where he has suggested that planning this before creating an artwork, the materials, and the techniques, and the mediums that we're gonna use are really important.

Moving on to our first task.

And Task A1 is to discuss the material and technique that you would choose to match the following stimuli.

So let's have a really quick close look at what these stimuli are.

So what do you think the first one is? Yes, well done.

It's bark on a tree, on an old tree.

The second one? Well done.

Yes, it's leaves.

And the third one is the side of a mountain or perhaps a cave with layered stone.

So, I would like you to pause the video and discuss the material and technique that you would choose to match the following stimuli.

Let's see what some of our pupils have said.

And really importantly, there is no right or wrong in this.

This is all about your own judgement and your own preference.

But you may have said something along the lines of our pupils.

So we have Sofia again, and she is talking about the layered stone.

And she says, "I would use fineliner for this.

There are many small lines that I would want to capture and I could use a hatching technique." So a hatching is that close lines together.

And she might create a ground by tea staining some paper first, which would be lovely.

You would get that lovely tone of the stone.

And then Jun is saying he thinks that watercolour would be good for this image of the leaves because you can use different painting techniques to capture the different layers and colours in the image.

So you could start off with a pale wash, and then slowly layer up the different colours.

Well done.

I wonder what you thought about.

So moving on to our second part of our lesson, and this is about getting hands-on experimenting and refining mark-making techniques.

Thinking about these leaves, what type of mark-making technique would you choose to respond to this stimuli? What would you use? Well, artists use different marks, brush strokes, to respond to images of nature.

And you can see some here.

The first image has a wash, and then they've layered over other watercolour paint so that it bleeds in slightly.

And then they've used their brush in different ways to create different effects and different marks.

Artists that apply mark-making techniques when looking at leaves and landscapes are, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, uses bright colours and expressive loose marks that flows together to create lush botanical imagery.

She also adds fun materials like glitter.

So that's perhaps something to think about in your own work.

Mark Entwisle, layers watercolour washes and mark-making to capture the variety of textures and colours of leaves.

So a little bit like what Jun said in his task.

In Task A, he would use layering techniques.

And then Claude Monet and Camille Pissaro used short layered brush strokes to capture the fleeting nature of a light in the landscape.

Sofia is thinking about how she would select mark-making technique.

And she suggests, I could use a technique that would allow her to make it easier to paint loads of these leaves quickly.

Because if we look really carefully at this photo, this image, there are so many leaves.

And if we used a very precise technique, it could take us a long, long time.

So she would use a technique that allowed her to do this quickly.

And then the medium she would use would be watercolour, and she'd create a quick wash to fill in the green area quickly, and then again, use some of those techniques with her brushes to layer over loose marks to depict all the leaves.

So she would create quite an expressive artwork.

And we can use a paintbrush to create a wide variety of marks.

So using a water wash, you can mark out the area with water.

So as you can see here, the artist has marked out the area with water.

You can then add water colour, the paint, to bleed into the area whilst it's wet.

And bleeding into the area means it kind of expands out and goes into the water and it creates this lovely wash effect.

And then you could gently dab the area with a tissue and that will take up a lot of excess water.

As that sometimes happens when we create a wash, that there's too much water and it becomes too wet.

So a tissue often overlaid or dabbed can help draw out some of that water, but leaving the colour wash there.

So, what is the second stage of this process? Check for understanding.

I'd like you to fill the missing gap.

I don't want you to worry too much about having the exact language, but just what is the second step? So, first step is using a water wash.

You mark out the area.

And the third step is of course you can dab away any excess water you wouldn't want.

What's the second step? Well done.

It's you can then add watercolour.

So you can add the colour to bleed into the area whilst it's wet.

So I wonder if you managed to remember that word "bleed." Mm.

But well done if you manage to get something similar to that.

Artists can use a paintbrush to create various marks to respond to leaves and foliage.

So you could use a wet brush and you can create a V stroke like a leaf, which is very effective.

You load the brush with watercolour and then you press it on the paper very carefully and turn it slightly, you rotate it slightly, and it almost creates like a fan shape.

And then you could also use the tip of the brush to paint smaller dots or smaller lines.

So you can combine these two techniques very effectively.

Check for understanding.

True or false? You need to wait until the wash is dry before adding watercolour.

True or false? Well done.

Yes, that's false.

And why? Well, you can use the wet-on-wet technique and you add watercolour whilst the wash is drying.

And then once completely dry, you can add a further layer of detail which will be more precise and sharp.

So you create that wash and then you can add on those kind of fan shapes, and dots and lines on top once it's dry.

Artists can work into a painting to refine the textures, adding depth and interest.

So you can see here that adding depth and interest over the wash by using our paintbrush in different ways.

Applying a variety of marks in layers can create the illusion of depth in the leaves and foliage without having to draw out every tiny leaf.

And you can see in these images that the artist has used with that fan shape as well as small dots and lines.

Once the first few layers of paint have dried, additional details like branches can be added.

So can we see here in this image? We've zoomed out slightly and we can see the branches.

And what the artist has done, they've let the paint dry, and then they've taken a brush and brown paint and started to weave in the branches.

And applying paint using a wet-on-dry technique allows precise, defined mark-making.

So unlike applying wet-on-wet, the artist here has allowed it to dry and doing wet-on-dry.

So applying the branches once it's dry.

Task B, this is where you get to experiment and you refine your mark-making techniques.

And you're gonna create a painting of a natural form foliage.

So, I would like you to select a stimulus of natural form foliage.

Choose your own example or use one of these images.

So please do feel free to go and look and research for an image of foliage, or indeed in your own environment, a scene of foliage that really inspires you and sparks your imagination.

Or you can choose one of these pieces of foliage.

Pauses the video.

Well done.

Let's see what one of our pupils, Jun, has chosen.

So, he says he's chosen example of foliage that has lots of leaves 'cause he wants to experiment with a technique of Pointillism to create the different tones in the leaves.

So he's chosen this image to be able to experiment with certain techniques.

Now, I'd like you to gather your chosen materials.

So you could use one or a combination of watercolours, like we've seen in this lesson, acrylics, gouache, watercolour pencils, pen and ink.

Pause the video and gather your chosen materials.

Well done.

So you may have gathered your paint brushes and your tissues to dab, of course, the excess water, and your watercolour palette.

Let's move on to our third part.

And this is where you really get to experiment and refine.

And remember, this is all about the process of experimentation and refinement.

There is no right nor wrong.

And I want you to really focus on the task.

So I want you to respond to your chosen stimuli by creating your painting.

And you could use a combination of these techniques we've looked at.

So we've looked at wet-on-wet bleeding, which of course is having that wash of water then adding the watercolour and then letting it bleed, and then dabbing off any excess water.

You could then layer on top and use dry brush and wet brush V strokes.

You could use spots and other marks.

Can you remember those spots and slight lines? Splatter and spatter texturing.

So that's about taking the paint and your paintbrush and fanning it so that it spatters across your artwork.

And then lastly, wet-on-dry mark-making for details.

So once you've got that texture and that layering, you can let it dry and add that wet-on-dry mark-making like the artist did in this lesson with the branches on the tree.

Pause the video and go and have some fun.

Well done.

As always, I'm sad that I can't see all of your lovely artworks, but I'm sure they're all fabulous.

So you may have chosen to do some of these strokes.

We've got the wet-on-wet.

We've then got these fan or V shapes.

We got dots.

And we've got a bit of spatter.

And again, here we've got the layering of the wet-on-wet, letting that dry and layering up the foliage.

I wonder what you did.

And here, the artist has added the wet-on-dry.

So for the details, adding the branches.

And finally, and this is a really important part of the artistic process.

I'd like you to reflect on your outcome.

What went well and what would you do next to improve it? How would you refine it further? You might consider how well the marks you have used match your stimuli.

How the mark-making affects the feel of your artwork? And how you would develop the piece if you did it again? Pause the video.

So let's see what one of our students has said.

So, Sofia here has said, "I matched my technique to my stimuli before I started," which is really important.

"And this helped me create a really vibrant impression of the tree." And she loves the way it looks.

And the loose multi-toned mark-making makes the tree really come to life.

Well, thank you for joining me today.

We've learned that a stimulus is anything that sparks inspiration and makes us want to experiment and express concepts, feelings, emotions.

We've also learned that using the right technique helps artists so it can effectively express the qualities of their inspiration, like texture, such as on the shell, or movement.

And artists choose the appropriate medium to ensure that colours transparency and flow matches the mood of the selected stimulus.

Thank you again, and I hope after this lesson that you may go away and start experimenting further with your mark-making techniques.