Diving into Art, the premier summer art camp in the Hamptons located at our Bridgehampton, NY campus has summer camps and classes for artists of all ages. Our art director, Sophia Santarella, talks below about our art camp that explores acrylic and watercolor painting, each week ending in a “works-in-progress” exhibit for friends, family and the public.
1. What excites you about this summer and our art program Diving into Art in Bridgehampton, both our day camp and our late afternoon adult lessons (3-5 pm)?
I am excited to be engaging with students and building our own little community. The younger students have such a natural intuition towards creating art, It's wonderful to help students cultivate their own creative voice.
For the older students I am very excited to help them develop confidence and skill in art making. The hardest part of making art is getting started and creating freely. I am looking forward to facilitating learning through skill making that will cultivate artistic confidence in students!
2. This summer you will focus Session I (7/18-22) on acrylic painting and for Session II on watercolor painting (7/25). How does an artist change his or her approach with type of painting?
One's approach changes based on the qualities of the material. For example watercolor is known for its airy and transparent appearance, while acrylic is thicker and more opaque. Unlike acrylic, watercolor typically uses the color of the paper as the lightest color. Working with watercolors requires patience as layering colors is important. Typically the approach to watercolors is working with your lightest colors first as your most transparent layer. From there each layer of water color becomes more opaque as you build up your darker colors.
When painting in acrylic you also work in layers. The difference in acrylic painting is that in this medium you work from dark to light slowly building up your highlights. It is an important distinction that dictates one's approach to each medium. Though there are exceptions to these rules, these approaches help develop strong painting skills in acrylic painting and watercolor painting.