Changing a figure’s surrounding transforms its mood and meaning. In “Drawing into Painting: Reconfiguring the Figure,” an online class at Seattle Artist League, Fran O’Neill led students in rethinking figure placement through drawing, collage, and painting. Using historical artworks, Zoom models, and personal photos, students reworked compositions, developed drawings into paintings, and examined how shifts in context alter narrative and form. The artworks in this post reflect their process and discoveries.
Gil MendezGil MendezLeslie Butterfield
Space as a Dynamic Element – Space is not a passive background but an active force that interacts with the figure. Negative space, overlapping forms, and shifting perspectives create tension and depth.
Connie Pierson
Layering and Revision – Artists erase, redraw, and reposition elements, allowing compositions to evolve organically.
Kathy PaulGil Mendez
Figures and Environment – Figures are integrated into their surroundings, responding to objects, other figures, and spatial changes.
Scale and Perspective – Forms stretch, compress, and shift in viewpoint, creating emphasis, movement, and layered compositions.
Heather OtaHeather Ota
Material Experimentation – Charcoal, collage, and paint encourage spatial exploration, with cutting and layering leading to unconventional choices.
Anne Sheridan
Change and Discovery – An open-ended process keeps compositions fluid and adaptable.
Evan ClarrissimeauxEllen Borison
Cut-out figures on movable cups create shifting compositions—an exploration of space, movement, and perspective. The figures shift, but the cat remains still.
Lisa Newmark
Personal Visual Language – Through repeated revisions, students develop compositions that move beyond imitation.
Ron Berg
Sense of Presence – Figures feel immersed in their environments, making compositions more connected and alive.
Ron Berg
All of this happened in a Zoom class—hard to believe! Fran is in Australia, our school is in Seattle, and the students joined from everywhere.
These artworks feel spontaneous, responsive, and deeply engaged with space and movement within the composition, setting them apart from other more common methods.
My thoughts so far have separated this warped perspective into two potential causes. First, when we look directly at something such as a pipe or an architectural beam, when in front of us it appears to be straight, but if we don’t move our eyes, it might be that the object slightly bends in our …
The Seattle Artist League is three years old. We’ve put on art walk events, Big League Shows, art parties, and hundreds of art classes. Thanks to you, we have grown a lot in three years! We are so glad you are part of who we are as a school.
Above: A beautiful example of multi-layered blending by Sharon Kingston Blending The most common way to kill the vitality in a painting, blending is a smooth transition between two colors, painted when wet. This is difficult to do with acrylic because it dries so danged fast, so using a slow drying paint like Golden OPEN Acrylics might help. 3 Blending …
Exercise your creativity This SAL Challenge is a vocabulary based creative challenge every day for January. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, sculpt your food, anything you want. See below for today’s creative challenge. Set the timer for 20 minutes and see what happens. WELTER n. a large number of items …
Reconfiguring the Figure: art from Fran O’Neill’s class
Changing a figure’s surrounding transforms its mood and meaning. In “Drawing into Painting: Reconfiguring the Figure,” an online class at Seattle Artist League, Fran O’Neill led students in rethinking figure placement through drawing, collage, and painting. Using historical artworks, Zoom models, and personal photos, students reworked compositions, developed drawings into paintings, and examined how shifts in context alter narrative and form. The artworks in this post reflect their process and discoveries.
Space as a Dynamic Element – Space is not a passive background but an active force that interacts with the figure. Negative space, overlapping forms, and shifting perspectives create tension and depth.
Layering and Revision – Artists erase, redraw, and reposition elements, allowing compositions to evolve organically.
Figures and Environment – Figures are integrated into their surroundings, responding to objects, other figures, and spatial changes.
Scale and Perspective – Forms stretch, compress, and shift in viewpoint, creating emphasis, movement, and layered compositions.
Material Experimentation – Charcoal, collage, and paint encourage spatial exploration, with cutting and layering leading to unconventional choices.
Change and Discovery – An open-ended process keeps compositions fluid and adaptable.
Cut-out figures on movable cups create shifting compositions—an exploration of space, movement, and perspective. The figures shift, but the cat remains still.
Personal Visual Language – Through repeated revisions, students develop compositions that move beyond imitation.
Sense of Presence – Figures feel immersed in their environments, making compositions more connected and alive.
All of this happened in a Zoom class—hard to believe! Fran is in Australia, our school is in Seattle, and the students joined from everywhere.
These artworks feel spontaneous, responsive, and deeply engaged with space and movement within the composition, setting them apart from other more common methods.
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My Warped Point of View
My thoughts so far have separated this warped perspective into two potential causes. First, when we look directly at something such as a pipe or an architectural beam, when in front of us it appears to be straight, but if we don’t move our eyes, it might be that the object slightly bends in our …
Our 3rd Year Anniversary!
The Seattle Artist League is three years old. We’ve put on art walk events, Big League Shows, art parties, and hundreds of art classes. Thanks to you, we have grown a lot in three years! We are so glad you are part of who we are as a school.
Blending Techniques for Painters
Above: A beautiful example of multi-layered blending by Sharon Kingston Blending The most common way to kill the vitality in a painting, blending is a smooth transition between two colors, painted when wet. This is difficult to do with acrylic because it dries so danged fast, so using a slow drying paint like Golden OPEN Acrylics might help. 3 Blending …
SAL Challenge 19: WELTER
Exercise your creativity This SAL Challenge is a vocabulary based creative challenge every day for January. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, sculpt your food, anything you want. See below for today’s creative challenge. Set the timer for 20 minutes and see what happens. WELTER n. a large number of items …