Veil Painting Course Overview
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Course Overview
This is a six-week class meeting four times a week for 90 minutes.
Veil Painting is a watercolor technique special to Waldorf Schools. Transparent watercolors are thinned far more than usual (to about Value 7 or 8 on a photographer's scale) and glazed over one another on white paper to achieve subtle color washes, or 'veils.' The colors are never mixed anywhere but on the paper, and then only one at a time in a wash over dry colors.
Students stretch full sheets of watercolor paper over stretcher bars themselves. Students chose two of three painting motifs to do using Goethe’s Luster Colors (red, yellow, and blue) and Image Colors (white, black green, and peach). We also explore Goethe’s use of Characteristic Colors, Non-characteristic Colors, and Harmonious Colors. A first canvas is divided into eight panels and pairs of colors are painted into each panel. A second painting, done on a full sheet, uses a black and white engraving by Durer as subject matter and requires the students to transpose it into color masses, using the full palette. A third painting, also done on a full sheet, is a painting of the Goethean color wheel.
Student evaluations are based on: their cooperation with the instructor and self-discipline, their painting skills, improvement made, the number and quality of their paintings, skill in stretching the paper, proper care of brushes and materials, and their engagement in the assignments.