After two weeks of still life studio work, students in Adjunct Professor – CCE of Fine Arts Chris Wright’s Painting 1 class gathered their supplies and ventured into the surrounding Brooklyn neighborhood to practice plein air sketching in Fort Greene Park.
Encompassing 30 acres of winding paths, rolling hills, playgrounds, and historic monuments, the park is an ideal setting for sketching the landscape, explained Wright.
“This exercise introduces them to another way of working and applying paint,” Wright said. “They’re thinking more quickly and responding more quickly and directly to the environment because of the changing light and shadow conditions. They’re not expected to finish the painting but to visually take notes on color, lights and darks, and color temperature, as if they are returning to the studio to make a bigger painting from their sketch.”
On the walk to the park, Wright and the students discussed J.M.W. Turner and Claude Monet and how they popularized the practice of depicting everyday scenes in ways that emphasize the fleeting nature of light and color. Students then found a comfortable place to set up, looked for scenes that intrigued them, and began painting as the afternoon progressed and the light changed.
“They love getting out into nature, and most of them have never been to this park before,” Wright said. “I usually do the trip during the fall because the weather is more stable and it’s warmer through October.”
For the rest of the semester, they will work on their still lifes, move on to a self-portrait, and then engage in a three-week figure painting. Students will also continue to work on a semester-long, outside-of-class independent final painting project.
“They’re introduced to a number of different ways of working and processes,” Wright said. “The park is a challenge in some ways, to see how well they can respond to a new kind of painting experience.”
