The class is about painting in oil. Though it is designed for those who have very little painting experience, it will be useful to any student interested in the study of the depiction of space through color and value. Working from both still life set ups and from the model, students will be introduced to color theory and the importance of tonal value in visual experience. We will consider the question: what makes a painting alive? Instruction in the use of various painting materials will be available in the case of individual questions about these. The intention of the class is to provide students with expressive tools that they can then use to amplify their own ideas.
	Meg Shields graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art with a BFA in Painting and has been the recipient of a Pollack-Krasner grant. She is represented by the Fischbach Gallery in New York. She lives in Wellfleet, and has taught at Castle Hill, the Cape Cod Museum of Fine Arts, and within the Chatham and Nauset Public Schools.
Meg Shields's Materials List: Oil paint in the following colors: Alizarin crimson Cadmium red med. Cadmium orange Cadmium yellow med. Cadmium yellow light or lemon Yellow ochre Raw Sienna Chromium of oxide green Thalo green Thalo blue Ultramarine blue Dioxazine purple or whatever you can find.(the mixing characteristics will vary.) Burnt Sienna Titanium white Supports to Paint On: These will be up to the individual student. I suggest any (not all) of the following: large pieces of corrugated cardboard a piece of homesote or plywood, particle board etc. (nothing too hard) about 25-30"dimensions Some heavy cloth (This can be printed, but should be densely woven in fairly thick fibres) a few inches larger in dimension than the piece of wood described above push pins pre-stretched Canvas canvas board or Wood panelsSizing/primers: Can of acrylic gesso (this is easiest initially) Brushes: Bring ONLY the following sizes: Brights and filberts 14,12, (or larger if you wish) down to 6. These can be bristle (stiff) or any of the softer nylon or nylon /hair combinations. You ought to have at least some bristle. Palette knife Palette (permanent palette or paper. Recommend the former) Solvents and Medium: Gamsol or Sansodor for thinners & Galkyd or Liquin for mediums artists grade linseed oil glass jars with lids (several) You will absolutely need at least two, right at the start. metal cans (turpentine will eat through plastic) lots of rags newspaper We will be talking about this whole list at the first class. A good reference book is Ralph Mayer’s The Artists Handbook. Another book to get hold of would be Joseph Albers’s The Interaction Of Color