Creating a Series
One characteristic that separates professional artists from art hobbyists is their eagerness to create several
works of art around a single theme or idea. The first thing you must do is select your subject or theme. The
theme or idea should be inspirational and be interesting to you. Try to find something personal to you, or
something that you feel a lot of emotion about.
Please plan to create a series of 5 painting this semester. This series should have a cohesive theme (subject) and
style. Your productivity will depend on size and style. You have freedom to generate your own ideas and to
create a portfolio that reflects your interests as an artist. You are required to developing a theme, a series of
works, rather than jumping from unrelated ideas to unrelated styles.
Do some research, no matter how much you know about the subject already, the fact that you need to create
at least ten works from one idea means you’ll need to understand your subject from every possible angle.
Assemble reference materials. The goal in this step is to get enough photos, sketches, and compositional
ideas to create at least five complete paintings.
Since we only meet twice a week as a class, set up a painting schedule outside of class. When you’re finally
ready to start painting, take a moment to figure out how much time you can devote to this particular series
each day. Look at the commitments you already have lined up, classes, job hours, family, etc

In your series of paintings be original; do not copy an existing illustrations or photographs. I am
looking for you to be inventive and creative with this series of paintings.

In your series of paintings challenge yourself and integrate some complexity into your artwork, for
example: challenging your use of color, value, texture, mark making and or develop the background
of your subject.
Write a one-page typed proposal that will explain your goals and techniques for your painting series. It should
include:
 A general plan (time line) for the semester
 Your inspiration and or subject/theme
 Reason for your interest in your content/subject matter, and why your choice inspires you.
 Reason for technique (expressionism, hard edge, impressionism, abstract, supper realism etc) that you
wish to incorporate.
 Type of support (canvas, watercolor paper, panel etc.)
 Size of images, negative space (background or environment) and color use.
 This is due during the second class period. Plan to talk to me about your ideas at this time.
Please consider the following examples of subjects, inspirations, ideas and themes to create your proposal
for your series of painting for this semester. You may choose one of the following or create your own
proposal theme.
1.
Traditional subject matter:
A. Still life
B. Portraits
C. Landscape
D. Genre
E. Current event
F. Historical event
G. Narrative
H. Religious
2.
Mimic a Style or an artist
Copy the work of another artist or pick a style of art and create a painting in that style. There are
unlimited possibilities in art history and contemporary art. Here are some examples:
A. Cubism
B. Expressionism
C. Impressionism
D. Naïve
E. Surrealism
F. Non-objective
G. Realism
H. Op art
I. Pop art
J. Photo-realism
3.
Work Inspirations
Simply think of a word and assign your series around that word. The list is endless but here are
some suggestions:
A. Theme painting: music, animals, humor, fantasy, flowers
B. Concept paintings: overcrowded, death, birth, movement, distortion, light
C. Mood paintings: angry, depressed, surprised, scared, happy, sad
4.
Design elements
A. Color theme
a. All work monochromatic
b. All work warm colors or all cool colors
c. All work one pair of complementary colors
d. All work pure saturated color
c. All work gray color
B. Space
A. cubical space
B. shallow space
C. ambiguous space
Mixed subjects:
A. A still life in a landscape
B. A historical or religious event in contemporary times
C. A narrative using portraits
5.
6.
Repetition series
Create a series of paintings in which form, objects or designs repeat put other elements change.
7.
Time of day series or time of year
A. Create a series of paintings that represents a certain time of day. Example: sunrise, noon,
sunset, night
B. Create a series of paintings that represents a certain time of year. Summer, spring, fall and or
winter
Student Examples:
Self portrait series with different artistic techniques
Graffiti
photo-realism
futurism
cubism
expressionism
Commemorative series using black, white and grays
The elements of nature