Art E-Magazine - 03rd Edition - Painting

The Art Circle of Royal College has been one of the most active societies of Royal College since 1995. It is also one of the largest clubs in the school, with a member base of over 1000 students. This society has always played a main role in polishing the aesthetic talents of not only Royalists but also of young students from all over the island. The main duty of those at the Art Circle is to develop the student’s talents to an extent of being recognized by other people in the society. Also, the Art Circle works to pave a path for those talented students who wish to carry out their skills in the future.

“The vision of the Art Club is to enrich the students’ lives, enhance their school experiences and compliment school based art education.” “The mission is to provide the members an opportunity to express individuality through the creation of artwork; these being created in unique ways for our community, school and self.”





I t is indeed an honor for me to Pen down a message for this third edition. I hope that the Art E-Magazine will showcase some of the best creative endeavors of the students. They encourage students to think and write newly through this medium. It’s also has a role in promoting the feeling of various visual arts. Artists and art movements among the students. I hope that this publication will be continued by the Art Circle of Royal College in the future. My best wishes for the Art Circle. Mr. Amitha Panideniya Teacher In Charge 2021 / 22 Royal College Art Circle 2022

A s the Head Prefect of Royal College, I am truly delighted to add some words for the 3rd Edition of “Art E-Magazine” which is published by The Royal College Art Circle. The main objective of this particular edition of the magazine is to share knowledge about the art styles of painting and to discuss the cultural and social values of them. Art is often referred to as a magic which opens the human mind to an infinite space of countless possibilities where their hearts could be dragged through a valley of thorns to a heaven of joy. They not only entertain us, but also offer opportunities to heal the body and mind. Artistic expression through writing, drawing, sculpting, dancing, singing, and much more, can provide relief from stress, pain, trauma, or illness, and help process thoughts and emotions that may otherwise remain hidden or ignored. The Royal College Art Circle has been an active club since its inauguration in 1995 where countless Royalists have worked so hard to serve College. I see this Art E-magazine as a great opportunity they have provided for Royalists to learn about the history and the techniques of various painting styles. In order to make this project a resounding success, I would like to appreciate the board and the committee members of the Royal College Art Circle for providing the students with such a resourceful magazine. In addition, I would like to commend the dedication and commitment of Vinindu Siriwardhana, The Chairman of The Royal College Art Circle 2022 and his team members for organizing this project during their tenure of office.













Fantasy Creatures Fantasy Creatures is a competition and a workshop series about making sculptures imagined by the competitors. In other words, sculptures were specially made by carving stone, clay, wood or by casting metal. Under the concept of Fantasy Creatures, we do not expect a sculpture of any real animal, and animal cruelty is strictly prohibited. All the competitors who wished to participate in this competition had gathered and asked to join an official WhatsApp group through a Google form from the 11th of February to the 27th of February. The competitors were categorized as primary, middle, and upper sections respectively. And there were several meetings to convey the progress of the competition with a surprising more than 100 participants. When the submission period got started on the 28th of February, everyone went busy with their workouts. They went busy with building & decorating their creations to launch their dream fantasy creature. Out of more than 50 submissions, the judges had to select the best creation from the 03 sections. But it went hard to judge the most significant creation among those fascinating creations. In the end, the winners were announced on the 01st of April and their fantasy creations were published on social media also winners will be awarded certificates in the upcoming Royal College Art Circle prize giving.

Miniature Vesak Lantern Competition The Miniature Vesak Lantern Competition is a project organized by the Royal College Art Circle to commemorate the birth, enlightenment, and the ‘Parinibbana’ of the Lord Buddha in a unique way. In this project, all the competitors were instructed to make a miniature Vesak lantern to showcase their ingenuity by sending 05 pictures of their creations in the initial round. All are gathered and asked to join an official WhatsApp group, through a Google form. When the submission period got started on the 03rd of May, all the competitors went busy because of the increment in competitiveness. They went busy with building & decorating their lanterns. At the end of the submission period, everyone was surprised because of the fascinating wonderful creations by the fellows. Even the judges went busy with selecting the best 30 lanterns to hold the final round out of more than 50 creations. In the final round, the best 30 competitors had to give a brief description of their creations and the winners were selected by a panel of judges via the zoom platform. In the end, the best 03 creations of the primary section and middle section were announced on the 31st of May and the 1st of June respectively. The creations, which won in each category were published on social media platforms of the Art Circle and the winners will be awarded in the upcoming Royal College Art Circle prize giving.





Art For Everyone Art For Everyone Is a workshop series organized by the Art Circle of Royal College for our fellow royalists. The goal of this project is to recognize and empower the skills of the young students and bring there work to light. The workshops will be conducted by the best artists in our country. We already conducted 2 lecturers for grade 4 students via zoom meeting and new workshops will be announced soon. Grafflix '22 Art Circle is always moving uniquely and doesn’t limit to the box thinking. Beyond the traditional paintings, we organized the Grafflix’22. It’s a graphic designing and video editing competition for fellow Royalists. Already submissions for the competition is started on the 11th of July and over 100 competitors on the way to grab the title “Best Digital Artist” of the year 2022. Plein Air Exhibition “Plein Air Exhibition” is an outdoor Painting competition followed by an Exhibition. The main motive of the exhibition is to encourage young royalists to improve their drawing and painting skills while paying gratitude to mother Royal. After the registration started on the 27th of July, participants received photographs of locations in Royal College. The competitor has to draw the most preferred location and submit it before the 6th of August through a Google form. In the 2nd phase, there will be special training sessions for the winners. This would be a great opportunity for them to know about the Plein Air painting techniques and Landscape drawing. In the 3rd phase, an exhibition will be held. The artworks will be displayed in front of the real location in the school while they are drawing at that very moment.

Art E-magazine “Art E-Magazine” is an online magazine, organized by the Royal College Art Circle. This online magazine consists of articles based on art subjects, written by the members of the Royal College Art Circle. As it is an e-magazine, there is more able to use it at a low cost like everyone prefers today. By giving the most accurate information, we hope to educate the reader as best as we could. This magazine will be having 4 editions. The 1st edition was released on the 5th of March based on digital arts. And we got stunning feedback from Mr. Deilon Waijayantha Angammana (An art director, illustration artist, and sticker designer at Rakuten Viber). On the 18th of May, we published the 2nd edition based on ‘Sculpting’. If you missed any edition, you can get it by visiting our official Royal college website. Also, we will publish the 3rd edition of the Art E-magazine in August based on the painting. And the 4th edition will be published in October. Art Mirror This is a project by the Royal College Art Circle to improve the interest in the art subject and to make a platform for the island-wide resource persons of the Art Circle to publish their artworks through the Royal College Art Circle social media platforms. We started to publish the artworks on 19th of January and we publish these creations every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The Royal Art Star Royal College Art star is the biggest inner school competition organized by the Royal College Art Circle for the 02nd time in Art Circle history, targeting to identify the hidden artistic talents and attitudes of Royalists, it has become one of the most trending projects. Art star is mainly considered a competition which decides the best out of the bests. In the first round, everyone had to submit their own 05 different drawings or paintings in any category between the 1st of May and the 10th of June. When the submission period closed we were surprised due to the number of responses. Surprisingly there were more than 200 competitors and more than 750 submissions of art works in the 01st round. The schedule was settled to end the competition on the 26th of June. But because of the huge no of creations and their fine shown talents, judges asked to increase the judging period till the 27th of June, because we wanted to select the brightest star among hundreds of stars. Out of all, 70 winners were announced and published on social media. In the 02nd round, competitors were asked to draw under a given 05 different topics. They got 13 days which started from the 28th of June to the 10th of July and we saw that their creations have got improved significantly. Out of those 70 arts, judges selected the best 20 drawings from the primary section, 20 from the middle section & 10 from the upper section respectively. And winners were announced on the 15th of July. There was no time to spend. So, we started the final round of Royal Art Star on 20th July. At this time competitors do not have to do another one, because out of their 02nd round drawings, we initiated voting progress among the Royalists to choose their Art Star. Royalists are only valid to give their valuable votes. We didn’t know that everyone was waiting for this moment. We got more than 100 votes in less than an hour and more than 1000 votes in less than 36 hours as a result of our dedication. We were surprised because of their shown motivation, to be the Royal Art Star of 2022. Everyone saw their dedication to achieving it by sharing graphics, and videos made with their hand. It has become a trend and we hope to announce the Royal 3 Art Stars for the year 2022 on the 25th of August. And the voting period was closed on the 15th of August.

Chithra Akura ‘Chithra Akura’, one of the main projects by the Royal College Art circle, was organized to promote the educational area (especially for the O/L s). Out of many sub-projects under the ‘Chithra Akura’, we have initially launched the ‘Art Reviews poster campaign’ starting from ‘Salvador Dali’s’biography details. ‘Art Trivia’, a quiz competition under the Chithra Akura about paintings and artists including three phrases. The first quiz was done on the 26th & 27th of June. A student named Theekshana Rupasingha won the Art Trivia 01 - 2022. And, we hope to launch the second phase of the Art Trivia in August. We are so happy about our newly launched Art Papers bot !!! This amazing Telegram bot is designed with a good platform to give art past papers from grade 6 to 11 and it was released on the 22nd of February. It has gone an insane journey among every art student, not only Royalists. Also, there will be an update (Art Papers Bot 2.0) this August! But here comes the main part, a website based on grade 10 & 11 art syllabus. It’s specially designed in an attractive way for students who take learning, as a boring subject. You can prove yourselves by visiting our official website. You have just to click a button, it will change your whole boring feel about art subject. Especially, it is made out with the best resources, pictures, and designs which you cannot find without paying. But the point is all are just free of charge, just for you. Also, there is an online quiz based on each lesson. This will be a great opportunity to test your level. And after all checkups, we will publish the website in August. Also, a research competition about Art, a Telegram quiz channel, an O/L instruction book, an O/L seminar to improve their knowledge and a field trip to National Art Gallery will come to your hands soon. So, stay tuned every moment with us, with this project. You will take great experience and vast knowledge through this project.

Online Art Gallery The Art circle of Royal College allows students to represent their artistic personality by drawing pictures and displaying them through an online art gallery based on the Royal College -official Art Circle webpage. Our goal is to provide a virtual online art gallery experience to students who can unleash their skills and showcase beautiful visual art creations and the project will be done under the coordination of the Royal College Computer Society. On the 03rd of September, Online Art Gallery will be opened for the students Endanger “Endanger’22” is a joint project organized by the Green Circle & the Art Circle of Royal College. It’s a lecture and an inner school competition regarding endangered species. This will be a great opportunity to enhance the analyzing and scrutinizing skills of young Royalists, educate students in the field of endangered animals, and inspire them to save endangered species. Royalists from grades 4 and 5 are eligible to participate in this event. In this competition, the competitors can submit their artworks, poems, essays, posters, and songs under the theme of endangered animals. The lecturer and the judge of the competition will be professor Devaka Weerakoon. The winners of the competition will be awarded certificates and will be published on the club’s social media through graphics. But, unfortunately, due to the prevailing situation in the country, the “Endanager’22” lecture is postponed until further notice. Stay tuned !

Lego League ‘LEGO LEAGUE’ is the largest online inter-school competition about making your imagination into a reality, by using interlocking plastic bricks. In this competition, the creation can be made on three topics: Space ships, Fictional worlds, and Robots. The competition will be started in August. It consists of 3 rounds and winners will be selected from the primary, middle, and upper sections. Contestants should upload their LEGO creations through Google forms till the 31st of August 2022. Winners will be announced in September. Outdoor Notice Board ‘The Outdoor Noticeboard’ is a project conducted by Royal College Art Circle with the support and sponsorship of the “SilverReed” company. We initiated the noticeboard at the end of August 2022 with the main objective of sharing information about projects, competitions, creations of the club members with the fellow Royalists. We are renewing the creations and information once every 2 weeks throughout a whole year to remain the profundity of the project.





Glimpse of Art ‘Glimpse of Art’ is a new project organized by the Royal College Art Circle. This project will consist of documentaries on biographies of famous Artists in Sri Lanka. By doing this we hope to empower young artists by sharing knowledge about painting techniques and their art styles through social media. We hope to give you their professional experiences, techniques, challenges they have faced, and more by interviewing them on a live platform. And we will stream it on social media and you can find the full documentary video by visiting our official YouTube channel (Royal College Art Circle). The technical assistance needed for the project will be handled by the Royal College Photography Society. Rested Minds ‘Rested Minds’ is a new project organized by the Royal College Art Circle. The main objective of this project is to convey to everyone about the psychological side of art. In the main part, we will conduct a discussion about ‘ the psychological importance of art ‘ with psychologists, art therapists, and professional artists. The main purpose of this discussion is, to encourage young artists to get involved in art knowing the real importance of it. Next, we will publish several short videos, discussing some topics under the psychology of art. All videos will be published on the official YouTube channel of the Royal College Art Circle.

Beyond The Horizon Beyond The Horizon is another main project of the Royal College Art Circle. This is an all-island art competition and this year we planned to expand the competition to the international level. This year there is an international category and it’ll be a great moment in the Art Circle’s history. Just a few weeks more to start the project and also an exhibition will be held with this competition. Stay tuned… Pixel Art A Digital Arts workshop series based on Animations, Graphic designing and video editing. Main objective of the project is to inspire the young generation. We hope this will be an amazing and awesome experience for the young generation of our county. Next-gen Designer A lecture series and mini competition which is based on NFT’s and Digital art. NFT’s and Digital art are thought to be the moving art of the future. So us, the Art circle of Royal college have organized NEXT GEN DESIGNER to acknowledge students from all over Sri Lanka regarding this.





01 | Painting | Art E-Magazine

From ancient times people created artistic visual objects, experiences, and mind creations to express their imagination and skills which is known as Art. According to the subject and technique used, arts have varied into several categories such as visual art, fine art, applied art, decorative art and performance art. In this classification, painting can be classified as a visual art where an artist captures their own imagination, emotions, and expressions on a two dimensional surface, or basically, it is an application of paint on a two dimensional surface. People used shapes, lines, colors, and textures to produce an artistic paintings on flat surfaces such as canvas, paper, wood, and concrete. Usually, paint consists of different pigments and a binding agent (oil). In cave paintings, prehistoric men used soft stones, plants, and bones as pigments which have been replaced by artificial colors, to their easiness and durability. In the evolution from ancient cave paintings to digital paintings, it has been a reflective medium of society, its history, culture, and experiences. With the rapid development of society, painting has been more illusionistic and artistic by utilizing several tools and techniques. In addition, traditions and rituals of numerable regions, tribes, and cultures from all over the world have expanded paintings into sundry pathways. Art E-Magazine | Painting | 02

When we consider the purposes of art, bringing the human mind to a spiritual state is one of the main purposes among them. As a consequence of that people has been involved in designing marvelous paintings as their competency and knowledge. In the early days, all the arts, including painting, had a religious face. That’s why the ancient shrines became art galleries. Taking that into consideration we can see that there is a considerable difference among Western, African, and Asian painting arts. But as everything in society changes, nowadays, art has become a means by which individuals can achieve their economic status. 03 | Painting | Art E-Magazine

Moreover, art is not only about theoretical knowledge it is also about the imaginary skills of the artist. Once, a great painter Philip Guston said, “Painting is an illusion, a piece of magic, so what you see is not what you see”. So, it is quite obvious that painting is one of the most important media of art which leads living beings’ minds into a great meditation and also a mirror that showcases their ability. Art E-Magazine | Painting | 04

If ‘Neanderthal’ man created any form of art, no traces of it have yet been found. But with the arrival of modern man, or ‘Homo sapiens sapiens’, the human genius for image-making becomes abundantly clear. In the recesses of caves, people begin to decorate the rock face with an important theme in their daily lives, the bison and reindeer which were their prey as ice age hunters. And sculptors carve portable images of another predominant interest of mankind - the swelling curves of the female form, emphasizing the fertility on which the survival of the tribe depends. There are 5 main categories in “History Painting”. They are, (1) Religious history paintings. (2) Mythological history paintings. (3) Allegorical history paintings. (4) Literary history paintings. (5) Historical history painting. These first paintings discovered by archaeologists, are vibrant paintings using more than three colors. These are paintings that have tried to imitate nature with maximum realism, based on observations made during the hunt. In a cave in ‘Altamira’, Spain, there is a rock painting of the Bison (ancestor of the cow) and is impressive for its size, volume and for using the ‘chiaroscuro’ technique. 05 | Painting | Art E-Magazine

During the first half of the 19th century, history painting was one of the few ways that the British public could experience its overseas empire. In this context, history painting became a form of documentation. Artists such as Benjamin West and Henry Nelson O’Neil became more interested in painting scenes of recent and contemporary history, depicting people in modern dress rather than the ‘timeless attire’ as seen in traditional history painting. The role of history painting was to plummet even further in the 20th century, disappearing almost entirely from art circles following the breakup of empire after the 2nd World War. Painting overcame territorial and technical barriers, reinvented itself over thousands of years, from rock painting to pop art, we can say that the importance of painting is that it has become a way for humanity to express itself and that it has influenced since our culture, even politics and economics. Art E-Magazine | Painting | 06

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There are many different elements, which have been used by human to create art. With many improvements along with the time, the elements of painting also developed as a key point to a significant creation. All the elements of painting are not just the same ones. They are different to each other. In western art, they are generally considered to be color, tone, line, shape, space, and texture as the basic elements of painting. Color which is an element of art, is made up of three properties: hue, value, and intensity. Tone is simply the lightness or darkness of an object. Sometimes it refers to value and is a one of the most powerful designing element in art. In any painting, photographing or designing, the area of highest contrast between the light and the dark will always demand the maximum attention. 09 | Painting | Art E-Magazine

Shape - an element of art, is a two-dimensional area that is defined in some way. A shape may have an outline around it or you may recognize it by its area. The texture is an element of art which refers to the way of an object feels to the touch or looks as it may feel. Understanding it fully will lead you to create stronger drawings or paintings. Space is a basic art element that refers to the distance between the area around and within shapes, forms, colors, and lines. Space can be positive or negative. Both positive and negative space can play similar roles in the overall success of an art. Using the above elements of arts in a productive way, can offer a fascinating creation to the world. Art E-Magazine | Painting | 10

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O il painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of the world. What initially make oil painting art so appealing is greater flexibility, richer and denser colour, the use of layers, and a wider range from light to dark which it gives to the painting. What you need for a Oil Painting ? Here is a basic set of oil painting supplies and equipment: • A range of small to large paintbrushes designed for oil painting. Hog hair and decent synthetic brushes are great for oil painting. • An easel • A palette • A basic palette of paints (discussed below) • A surface to paint on (discussed below) • Odorless solvent • Linseed oil • Paper towel (for wiping your brushes) 13 | Painting | Art E-Magazine

What are the Surfaces to paint on ? Canvas became the most popular surface to paint on around the 15th or 16th century. Prior to that, wooden panels were used. There are 2 options with canvas: • Stretched canvas panels: Canvas stretched over a frame. These are what you will probably be doing most of your oil painting on. • Canvas boards: A cheap and sturdy alternative to stretched canvas panels. Canvas boards are usually just canvas attached to a sturdy surface like cardboard. I use these for study works and demonstrations. What are Oil Painting Rules ? In oil painting, there are some “rules” which you should follow to avoid your paint cracking. • Fat over lean: As noted earlier, oil paint is basically colored pigment which is held together by some kind of drying oil. The more oil present, the “fatter” the paint is and the slower it will dry. In general, you want to make sure the top layers of paint are fatter (or oiler) than the lower layers. Otherwise, the layers on top will dry faster than the layers below and the paint will crack. • Thick over thin: The reasoning behind this rule is the same as the above rule. You want to make sure the paint at the top dries slower than the paint at the bottom. Thick paint will usually dry slower than thin paint. Art E-Magazine | Painting | 14

How to draw an Oil Painting ? Step 1 : Gather Your Materials. Step 2 : Make your canvas. Step 3 : Sketch the composition of the oil painting. Step 4 : Applying the initial coat of paint. Step 5 : Painting the shapes, forms, and objects. Step 6 : Adding more textures & colors. Step 7 : Paint the fine details & refine the color palette. 07) Blending Blending is a painting technique where two different colors are slightly mixed together when wet, giving a smooth transition from one color to the next. The transition color will be a product of the two blended colors. (if you are blending blue into a yellow, the transition color will be a green) 15 | Painting | Art E-Magazine

What are oil painting techniques ? 04) Chiaroscuro 01) Scumbling dCrhaiwarionsgcuarnod is Italian for “light dark”. In Scumbling is the technique of applying painting, it refers to the balance a very thin amount of paint using a stiff and structure of light and dark in the art bristled brush in a kind of broken glaze. work. The result is a textured effect which leaves some of the underpainting exposed. This 05) Impasto technique can be perfect for creating an atmospheric depth in your paintings. Impasto is generally used in reference to paint which is applied in a thick and bold 02) Alla Prima fashion with clearly visible brushwork, but (Wet on Wet) it can also refer to the more subtle textures created by delicate brushwork on a more Alla prima, or wet on wet, refers to a smooth surface. direct style of painting where the paint is applied without letting earlier layers 06) Blocking In dry. Artists using this technique can finish paintings often in as little as a Blocking in refers to an initial painting single session. process of blocking in the general colors and shapes on your canvas. The purpose 03) Glazing of blocking in is to lay down the general composition and color harmony without A glaze is a thin, semi-transparent layer having to worry about the tedious details. of paint. Glazing is a popular technique in oil painting, where glazes are applied on top of an opaque layer of paint which has been allowed to dry. Art E-Magazine | Painting | 16

How to clean up Oil Paintngs ? • The downside of oil painting is the cleanup time. No matter how hard I try, oil paint just seems to just get around. To clean up after your oil painting session, you can use soapy water but more preferably solvent or turpentine. As the paint is oil based, water is not that effective. • You also need to make sure you take care of your brushes. Your brushes will not last long if you do not properly clean them after a session. What are some Oil Painting Tips ? 1) Keep your oil painting palette organized with the paints laid out the same way each time you work. 2) Premix piles of paint that represent the big “puzzle pieces” or large masses of your composition. 3) Start with the colors you know and work toward the ones you don’t. 4) Be aware of changes in color at the edges of shapes, which will give your shapes form and volume. 5) If you want to see shapes flatly, close one eye. 17 | Painting | Art E-Magazine

How to Varnish your Oil Painting ? You can varnish your oil painting to protect it from the environment. Over time, dust, debris, wind and other elements can damage an unvarnished painting. You need to wait for the painting to completely dry. For paintings with thick paint, this could take at least 3 months.You generally have the choice between a gloss or matte varnish. Then, take your varnish and spread it evenly over your painting using a large brush. 6) Make color relationships on your palette first, and then try test spots on your canvas. 7) Work on very small panels on location to experiment with color rather than on your final surface. 8) Make color charts that relate the various colors on your palette. Stick to a limited palette. 9) Keep one hand on the wheel, glance at the mirror, and coast. In other words, relax! 10) To judge both value and color, step back from your painting to make final judgments. Art E-Magazine | Painting | 18

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