Precarious Times & The Visual Poetry of Squeak Carnwath: Collage Class with Alexandra Sheldon

"Precarious Times & The Visual Poetry of Squeak Carnwath"
With a Drawing Warm Up

June 30 2022

Go through your collections of images, drawings and ephemera.

As always, I intend for my classes to be active art-making sessions for you with a smattering of different techniques. It is my belief that if we can make something with our hands then life is easier and less anxiety provoking. Above all else I want my classes to be invigorating yet relaxing, contemporary yet unpretentious and wide open to total beginners as well as experienced artists needing a jumpstart.

Here is my general list of materials to have on hand every week (of course you can improvise with what you have):

Any type of paint pens

Any transparent papers like vellum

Water based paints like acrylics, gouaches or watercolors (I like Turner Acryla Gouaches, Holbein Acryla Gouaches, and Golden acrylic colors - a variety of colors is good to have.)

Assortment of brushes (flat nylon Aquarelle brushes available from Blick are great for painting paper.)

Plastic scraper or old credit card for collaging stuff flat

Papers found in a recycle bin like envelopes, paper bags, receipts, cereal boxes, cardboard

Pens, pastels, sharpies, colored pencils, water soluble pastels, charcoal, pencils, paint pens or ball point pens

Ruler, sponge, water, paper plates, newspaper, magazines, trace paper, sketch paper, newsprint, any type of Bristol paper or mixed media sketchbook paper

Card stock in white or cream from Staples. It is a cheaper alternative to Bristol paper. Get the 11” x 8” 110 pound. This is a good substrate for collages.

Scotch Low tack artist tape or any type of painter's tape

Mixed media sketchbook, any size

Glue sticks or acrylic matte medium (I prefer Utrecht matte medium, available online from Blick Art)

These are great colors to have on hand (but don't forget that you can always improvise in my class and could even use a box of watercolors):

Pretty essential:

Black

White (I use a titanium white)

Burnt Umber

Yellow Ochre

Burnt Sienna

Raw Umber

Alizarin Crimson

Cadmium Red

Cadmium Yellow Medium

Either Cadmium Yellow Light or a Lemon Yellow (one is a rich yellow tone and the other is much lighter)

Ultramarine Blue

Cobalt Blue

Cerulean or Bright Blue

Hookers Green

Quinacridone Magenta or any Magenta

Payne’s Gray

Second List:

Phthalo Blue (also called Windsor Green if made by Windsor & Newton)

Phthalo Green (“ These two colors make mixing tropical greens and blues much easier. They are super strong rich colors)

Prussian Blue (super gorgeous)

Quinacridone Crimson or any Crimson

Raw Sienna

Sap Green

Cadmium Green

Cadmium Orange