Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're feeling really great.

My name's Ms. Afzal, and I'll be your art teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling really excited about that because I love teaching art and because today we're gonna be looking at mark-making through painting.

Our lesson title is Mark-making; preparing the surface for painting.

And it comes from the unit of work, Being curious about abstract art.

So hopefully you're feeling curious and hopefully you have some focus, some enthusiasm.

You'll need some art materials that I will tell you about when we get to that point.

And with all of that said, I think we'll begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is, I can understand why artists prepare their surfaces and can prepare my own backgrounds for painting on.

We have some keywords in our lesson today.

Let's go through them.

Wash, layer, and collage.

What do these words mean? Well, wash is a thin, transparent layer of paint, usually created by diluting the pigment with water in watercolour, ink, or thinned acrylics.

Layer.

A layer is one part of an artwork that sits on top or underneath another.

Artists build up layers using paint, pencil, collage, or texture to create depth and detail.

Collage.

Cut, layered, and glued materials onto a surface to create a piece of art.

I wonder if you've worked with any of these things before, using a wash, layering artwork, or creating collages.

We'll find out about that as we go along.

And let's get started on our lesson.

Our lesson is called Mark-making: preparing the surface for painting, and it has two learning cycles.

The first is Explore surfaces to paint on, and next, Experiment with surfaces.

Love experimenting.

This is gonna be fun.

Artists prepare their backgrounds before painting to create a smooth, stable surface to paint on.

This can involve applying a wash, a gesso primer, or an underpainting.

Artists also prepare their backgrounds to enhance their artwork and make the creative process easier using washes, collage, or layering technique.

Pause the video and share with someone, how do you think the background of this artwork has been prepared? Thanks for sharing your ideas.

The large scale work of Mark Bradford is textured with layers of ripped paper, posters, string, and paint.

He scrapes, sands, and tears into his surfaces to reveal hidden layers.

His artwork looks rough and built up, almost like the surface of a wall with layers of posters and graffiti.

The artist Shezad Dawood often combines different materials, techniques, and media, like painting, textile, digital imagery, maps, and found pattern into layered artworks that have a collage-like quality.

He builds on these surfaces to make his art.

Talk to a partner about why an artist prepares surfaces to paint on.

Pause the video while you do this.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Let's hear some.

Here's Aisha.

"It can be harder to start a drawing or painting on a white background." That's very true.

It can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming, just have that plain white background.

Andeep, "Preparing a background can enhance your artwork." Absolutely.

And Jacob, "Using a gesso primer will help make my surface smooth to work on." Some fantastic reasons given there.

Perhaps you had some similar ones.

Artists prepare their surfaces for many reasons.

Sometimes it can be for technical reasons, like ensuring the surface layer is smooth enough to work on.

Also that the surface does not absorb the paint too quickly.

Sometimes, preparing the surface can be experimental, and this can enhance the artwork.

This can make the process of painting a lot of fun.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? Artists only prepare their surfaces to work on for technical reasons.

Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected false.

Now, I'd like you to say a little more about your answer.

Pause the video while you do this.

Perhaps you said something like this.

Artists will prepare their surfaces to work on in experimental ways, as well as to make their artwork more exciting.

It can sometimes be hard to start artwork on a plain background.

Thanks for sharing your responses.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to explore surfaces to paint on through discussion.

So first of all, identify and discuss the different surfaces you can see.

Pause the video and share with someone.

What do you see? What do you notice? What do you know about these surfaces? So, how did you get on with that? Identifying and discussing the different surfaces you can see.

Here's Andeep, "I can see a wash of colour that has spread into the surface.

I can also see some scratchy marks scored into thicker materials." Here's Aisha, "I can see a rough and textured surface as well as a collaged surface, which means it is layered." Fantastic.

Perhaps you notice some of these things too.

The washes, the collage, the layers.

Let's move on to the next part of your task.

And now I would like you to choose a word to describe the art material, texture, or technique of the surface features that you see.

For example, you may describe this as being absorbent or bumpy.

So pause here while you choose a word to describe the art material, texture, or technique of the surface textures that you see.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Well done for having a go at that.

And now, we're taking it a step further.

With your partner, use the alphabet to make a list of words, art materials, and techniques that describe surfaces to paint on.

So for example, A, you could have absorbent, watercolour wash on thick paper, B is bumpy, dabbing thick acrylic paint on paper, C is collage, cut different materials to stick on paper, and so on.

Let's see how far down the alphabet you can get.

Hopefully the whole way.

Pause the video while you use the alphabet to make a list of words, of art materials, and techniques that describe surfaces to paint on.

And I'll see you when you're finished.

So, how did you get on with that task? Using the alphabet to make a list of words, art materials, and techniques that describe surfaces to paint on.

You may have said something like this, here's Aisha for D, "D is for dragged.

Dragging paint with card or a brush on a surface of a paper to get thick marks and paint layers." Love that.

"E is for etched," nice, "which is when you scratch into a wet paint surface." Fantastic.

Let's keep going.

Here's Andeep with F.

"F is for fuzzy.

Sticking fabric or cotton on paper to create soft, tactile textures." Love the sound of that.

"G is for gritty.

This is when you sand or salt mixed with paint to create really rough and gritty surfaces." Oh my, this is so fun, and I hope you managed to carry on with the rest of the alphabet as well.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle, Experiment with surfaces.

There are many ways to prepare a surface to work on.

Our surface could be smooth, rough, or layered.

Pause the video and share with someone, which of these kinds of surfaces are you most drawn to creating and working on, smooth, rough, or layered? Thanks for sharing.

Here's Aisha.

"Different materials behave differently on different surfaces, so it could be good to have many examples to look at." "For example, watercolour soaks in on some paper but sits on top of others." Jacob says, "I'm going to use a sketchbook to store all my surface tests inside so I can remember how I made them.

Like a recipe book for surfaces!" I love that.

Helen Wells is a contemporary artist.

She makes intricate, colourful, and highly textured paintings.

Using acrylic paint, inks, and embossing techniques, she creates detailed, dream-like surfaces.

She makes small sample sketchbooks of all of her textured and patterned backgrounds.

Rachel Gadsden is a visually impaired artist who works with bold marks, layered surfaces, and expressive colour.

She often uses mixed media, charcoal, paint, and collage to explore her body, identity, and medical experiences.

She also uses sketchbooks and journals to develop her ideas and textures.

There are a number of artists working with different textured and layered surfaces.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following is an experimental way an artist might prepare a surface? A, drawing neatly with a ruler, B, cleaning the surface with water, C, adding texture with salt or sand.

Pause the video while you decide which of these is an an experimental way that an artist might prepare a surface.

Well done if you selected C.

Indeed, adding texture with salt or sand is going to be an experimental way to prepare a surface.

And now I'd like you to discuss with your partner how you might prepare a surface.

What ideas do you have about how you could do this? Pause the video and share.

Let's hear some ideas.

"I can create colour and gradient effects using washes with watercolour and inks.

I can mix the two together to create different effects." "I can make textured effects by mixing sand or salt with PVA glue." Love that.

One more.

"I can make special effects by sticking fabric and paper on a surface to create a collage effect." Love these textures, collage, washes, and I wonder if you had any similar or different ideas.

Aisha is going to experiment with four different techniques to find out how she can make some experimental surfaces.

"I will first collect all of my materials, salt, masking tape, paint, and ink.

I'll also need paper to test my experiments on and a paintbrush.

This is going to be a lot of fun." Love the attitude, Aisha.

"I will keep all of my experiments and write some notes on the back to explain how I made them to help me remember how to make them again on a larger scale later." That's a great idea.

I love that.

Making notes on the back.

It's gonna really come in handy.

And so it's time for your task.

I would like you to experiment with different surfaces.

So first of all, gather your equipment and materials.

Think about collected materials, fabric, paper, sand, salt, which tools you might need, if you'll need different wet media, such as watercolour ink, acrylic paint.

So pause the video while you gather together your equipment and materials.

Okay, good to be back with you.

How did you get on with gathering your equipment and materials? You may have gathered some sand and salt, brushes or found objects, thin paper, fancy paper, fabric, watercolour, ink, acrylic paint, masking tape, PVA glue, or perhaps some other items. Next, I would like you to experiment with different surfaces.

So I'd like you to experiment with washes and masking techniques.

You could sprinkle salt on top of a wash of ink and let it dry and brush off salt gently when dry.

You can make a wash with watercolour, then drip some ink onto the wash whilst it's still wet.

You could use masking tape to create a resist on the paper, then add ink or washes of watercolour.

Develop this technique by overlapping different colours.

So for the salt and ink method, the first stage would be, make a wash with ink, sprinkle salt on top, then allow the ink to absorb into the salt and dry.

And then when the ink is dried, brush the salt off the paper and you'll see what remains.

For your watercolour wash and ink, this will be the process.

Make a wash with watercolour using your paintbrush.

Drop a contrasting colour of ink over the wash.

Continue adding different colours of ink onto your wash.

And for masking tape and watercolour, this will be your process.

Use masking tape to make a pattern on paper.

Apply a wash of watercolour over the top with a paintbrush.

Let the paint dry before removing the tape.

And for overlapping colours with masking tape, stick masking tape over a dry stained ground and add ink.

Let the ink dry and then apply another colour.

Let the second layer of ink dry fully before peeling the tape off.

So pause here while you have a go at one of these washes or masking techniques.

It's great to be back with you.

How did you get on with experimenting with washes and masking techniques? You may have captured lots of different types of surfaces like this.

Perhaps you went for the salt and ink crystallisation effect.

Maybe you had a go with the wash with a bleeding effect.

Perhaps masking tape resist effect.

Or masking tape resist multiple layered effect.

These are all looking really, really terrific.

For the next part of your task, I would like you to reflect on your outcomes.

You could consider, which techniques were most successful and why? What sorts of compositions or imagery would suit the different surfaces? Could you develop any of these surfaces further? What would you change? So pause here while you reflect upon your outcome and consider your answers to these questions.

All right, it's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with reflecting on your outcomes? You may have said something like this.

Here's Sam.

"The salt crystallisation effect could work really well as a background for the sea in my next painting." Oh yeah, I could really see how that would work.

Wonderful.

And Aisha, "The ink wash bleeding effect works well.

I would like to repeat this on a large scale as a background for an expressive artwork." Fantastic.

And remember, Aisha said that she's going to write on the back of her experiments how she created this so she'll know how to create this again when she goes for her large-scale expressive artwork.

Well done everyone for joining in this lesson.

You've come up with some fantastic creations, which will go on to make great backgrounds for your next artwork.

In our lesson today, Mark-making: preparing the surface for painting, we have covered the following.

Artists often prepare their backgrounds, not just for technical reasons, but also to be more creative and expressive.

Technically, preparing the surface like adding gesso or a base layer like a collage or a wash helps paint stick better, keeps colours from soaking in, and creates a smoother surface.

Artists also use background preparation in an experimental way, adding colours, patterns, or textures to set a mood or feeling before they begin the main image.

This can help the artwork feel more lively, emotional, or dramatic.

Well done everyone for joining in with this lesson.

I love the exploration of different methods for preparing the surface for painting.

We looked at creating base layers, using collage or using a wash, depending upon the effect that you're after.

And I loved how you went for it and had a go at creating your own background, really thinking about, and then reflecting on how this is gonna work for you as a base for the next piece of art that you're going to create.

And it was wonderful to see you experimenting and going for it.

I look forward to seeing you at another art lesson soon.

In the meantime, stay creative.