Paintings of a peacock, flowers, a woman lying, and a woman running.

How does each student visually communicate?

Photography by Amy Mikler.

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Design With Dots

Use what you’ve learned about working with color to create your own composition

Students paint and look at a color wheel.
Watch a slideshow featuring Pointillist-inspired works created by Nancy Hoover’s class at The Girls’ School of Austin.

Studio Project Prompt:

Paint a portrait, landscape, or still life. But instead  of mixing the colors on your palette, use optical color mixing. Place tiny dots side by side to develop the shapes and forms in your composition.

Parameters:

  • Start with primary colors red, yellow, and blue plus black and white on your palette.
  • Use only black and white to adjust the tint or shade of  the colors you’re working with.
  • To create shadows and highlights, add complementary colors.
  • Experiment by juxtaposing unexpected colors.
  • Use color to create, emphasize, or set the mood.

Before you begin, check out examples by the students at The Girls’ School of Austin in Austin, Texas in the slideshow above!

Prepared by: Nancy Hoover, The Girls’ School of Austin, Austin, Texas

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Painting
Elements
Color
Features
Studio Project

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