ansel adams inspired ink landscape

I introduced photographer Ansel Adams to the preteen class. Although we were not exploring photography, I felt his work was a great example of the importance of value in artwork and a great inspiration for a landscape project created solely in black ink.

11 year old

This was not easy at first for the girls, there was a huge learning curve in not only how to use the ink but also understanding how to create an interesting artwork with just black. But they each rose to the challenge and ended up with some very powerful pieces. They learned how to create value with the ink using water and learned to pay close attention to all the different values needed to create an interesting piece. I think the most challenging part was letting white and black sit next to each other without blending.

12 year old

They each chose an Ansel Adams landscape that interested them, but most made changes and used it only as a jumping off point for reference. Case in point, the above work. The mountain became a volcano and she filled the foreground with trees. This particular artist went through the entire lesson begging for color, but once she got the hang of all the interest she could create with just the black ink, she got the most interesting work.

10 year old

This is a new student to the class and she did not like her finished piece. Which blows my mind because it is quite incredible. Again, learning to work only in black is hard! My hope is once she spends some time away from the piece, she relooks at it and sees what everyone else sees in her amazing art.

11 year old, 'three ladies'

And finally, this happened. As the other three students worked on their landscapes, this artist just began to explore the endless possibilities of what could be done with ink and water. She spent the entire 1.5 hours immersed in process. Each time she made a discovery, she excitedly shared it and she truly enjoyed just learning about how to use the ink on paper.  When class was over the paper was like looking at clouds- everyone saw something different in the work. 

Freud would of loved it.

Her dad saw a wolf and she saw the woman in the center of the paper. Then suddenly she saw another woman and finally a third. So at the beginning of the next class, I gave her a fountain pen and asked her to add just enough line to bring out the women. Isn't this wonderful? I love everything about this work, the complete abandonment of end product worry, the joy of learning through process, and finally the creativity and imagination shown in the final imagery.

love. love. love.

I'm not sure any of the girls will be running to create a work with just black but I do know they learned a lot about the importance of value. Their newfound knowledge has already made a significant change in their new works of art. 

I was so impressed with each artist during this project, I think Ansel Adams would be too.