Painting with Words
Using acrylic paint & gesso on canvas, we'll draw on the stained glass windows
we're surrounded by to create our word-ly painting.
Please see the word reference material sheet provided for further inspiration.​
Our Tools:
Artist Focus
ARTIST INSPIRATION
Colin McCahon (1919-1987)
Colin McCahon is not only considered NZ's most significant but also our most soulful of artists.
He was a painter often obsessed by words.
Despite being a wonderful writer, the words on his 'wordscape' pieces were usually not his own. Many of his pieces include biblical passages presented creatively,
in strange new ways, sharing the questions ruminating in his mind.
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McCahon painted words using different, painterly writing styles.
Cursive, a mixture of capitals & lower case, colourfully layering up the letters etc.
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Part 1: Warm up exercises
Continuous Circles - Line Drawing​
Circles & Cross-hatching
Cross-hatch: Using your pencil quickly/wildly cross hatch draw.
Try the styles shown above, with different line spacing and diagonal lines.
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Continuous Circle Line Drawing: Draw a series of circles without
lifting the pencil from the page, let them overlap, let their size differ.
Intentionally make these misshapen so they're not perfect!​
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Cross-hatch Circles: Cross hatch some of these circles,
experimenting with heavier & lighter cross hatching to find a 3D feel.
Part 2: Creative writing,.. FoNts
Exercise 1: An ear for the music...
Listen to the music for a few minutes.
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Feel free to doodle as you listen...
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What words come to mind as you listen?
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Write these down, & make an effort to be a little crazy
with how you draw these on your page!
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Think about how you could display this sound symbolically? ​​
Exercise 2: Creative writing
Reference sheet: Select words from the reference sheet that appeal to you.
Creatively draw Your selected letters, words or sentences using a mixture of different drawing & writing styles eg. select only certain letters from the words, use a mixture of upper & lower case, cursive writing etc.
Symbols: Don't write in lines, try writing your words as if they were a moving line like a wave, a koru, a circle, or a zigzag etc. ​
Illegible: Your words don't need to be legible​​.
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Top to bottom: Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese are written vertically in columns going from top to bottom and Arabic words and sentences are written and read from right to left. Try it out.
Exercise 3: Cathedral Inspirations
Board, paper & pencil: Take a few minutes to stand up and move around the Cathedral's great hall, noticing in particular any words, symbols or ideas that pique your interest.
Sketch these onto your paper.
Part 3: Concepts of Colour
Dominant Colour: generally for a painting to feel harmonious there needs to be a dominant colour ie. more than 50% of the painting.
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Contrasting colour: using opposing colours on the colour wheel also helps achieve "vavavoom" and colour cohesion.​​​​​
Illustration Exercise - Shane Cotton
​​a. What's the dominant colour in Shane Cotton's piece shown below
b. What are the 2 contrasting colours
Part 4: Loosely sketch the composition for your painting:
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Look through all the words & symbols material you've created/drawn ​​thus far.
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Pull out the ones you think would be interesting to use in your painting.
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Think about how you might like to present each of these on the canvas, how you'd like them to interact with each other.
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Decide on your dominant & contrasting colours for your piece.​​
Part 5: Begin By Painting the Background
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Gesso up your background.
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Apply the background colour(s).
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Paint on any symbols you wish to use (try layering up/blending the colours).​​​
Part 6: Word & Symbol Application
Remember:
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Write back to front, mix upper & lower case letters, trial different fonts.
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Don't write in lines, try writing your words into the shape of; a koru, a circle, a wave, a zigzag.
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Your writing doesn't need to be legible!​
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Layer up each letter, use multiple colours on each letter.
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Try giving a certain word a shadow.
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Paint a new words partially over the top of another.
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Consider writing a word or two in pencil.​​