The Primitive Art Movement refers to the art of various historical European periods and of non-Western societies. Art belonging to this movement paintings are typically simplistic in its approach to form and color. There is a lack in conventional ideals like values, linear perspective and other the concept of proportionality.
In the spirit of Paul Gauguin and his contributions to the Primitive Art Movement, the goal is to recreate the experience of the “primitive time,” in regards to place, and person, through watercolors. In his paintings, Paul Gauguin uses a specific color palette: prussian blue, cobalt blue, emerald green, viridian, cadmium yellow, chrome yellow, red ochre, cobalt violet, and white. This week, Little Ashcan learned to differentiate between these cool and warm colors, and began their painting with the cool colors. For the past few weeks, the students learned different ways to get started with a painting, like a pencil sketch! A painting sketch or underdrawing, is a preliminary drawing artists make on their canvas that will help guide where the painting will go. This week, they developed their preliminary “drawing” with the cool tones! Next week, they will finish off their paintings with the warm tones!