The Art of Now: an overview of the course

MODULE 1

In module 1, I’ll introduce the materials and tools that you need, and give you a detailed shopping list. This shopping list will be quite short since you don’t need a lot of expensive materials to make art. You can find the shopping list if you click on the link in the first module of the Course Curriculum.

MODULE 2

In the second module, I’ll introduce the six visual elements: marks & lines, color, value, shapes & images, texture, and depth. This module encourages you to explore every single element separately. 

MODULE 3

In this module, I’ll introduce you to the first game: the Card Game. In this game, you’ll use coincidence to experiment with the six visual elements. I’ll create six cards, and each of them has one of the visual elements on it. You can shuffle them and draw a card blind – or pick one of the cards as you like it. This game helps to make you aware of all the possibilities you have. When you get stuck, you go back to the basics – the visual elements. From there, you can go back to the painting, and continue.

MODULE 4

The second game is called: the Speed Game. If you’ve got all the time in the world to make a painting, chances are that you start overthinking and doubting. This game helps you to stay out of that. In this video, I take my timer, put it on for 5 minutes, and start painting. Then I stop, take a look at it, maybe even analyze it a bit, and then off I go again, for another five minutes. Then, I repeat this procedure for the third time. After that, I don’t use my timer anymore and take all the time that I need to finish it. 

MODULE 5

Game 3 is called: the Simplicity Game. If you give yourself too many possibilities, you might get overwhelmed and get nowhere. In this game, I restrict myself to only using two colors. Golden Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, and Turquoise Phtalo, and of course Titanium White and Carbon Black. 

MODULE 6

In this module, you’ll play the fourth game: the Color Game. In this game, you paint for five minutes. After these five minutes, you cover up 50% of the painting with an (opaque) color of your choice. This helps you to let go and not get too attached. But it also helps you to realize that paintings are never spoilt – you can also cover part of it up – which gives you a beautiful springboard for the next layer. In the video, I repeat this covering-up process three times, and after that, I’m taking my time to finish the painting.

MODULE 7

Game 5 is another let-go game: the Black & White Game. It resembles the fourth game – but this time you use black and white to cover up 50% of the paintings – which has a very different and strong effect. You learn how important working with value is, and how wonderful black and white are for creating new springboards to new layers of paint. In this video, I repeat the covering-up process three times.

MODULE 8

In this module, you’ll learn to play game 6: the Cut Game. First, you take your timer and create a painting on A4 or Letter-sized paper in five minutes. After that, you cut it in half and continue for five minutes on one of the halves. After that – you cut that half in half, and continue on the now postcard-sized painting. This game helps you to make drastic moves and makes you stay flexible and able to start anew from anywhere.