Everything Color (DOTS!) with Erin Pankratz
Learn how to create and mosaic with colorful dots and under-paintings.
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Erin Pankratz has brought her signature colorful mosaic "dots" and substrates to Mosaic Arts Online! She begins this online course by teaching a few different methods for creating under-paintings on her substrates, followed by lessons on how to create the dots, and then how to mosaic with them. This course has the same information she teaches in an in-person workshop, but the video format allows her to demonstrate making the dots more in depth! Erin has a sister online course that teaches how to mix tinted mortar properly and create the colorful substrates. These "dots" are then adhered by using modern andemento. Once you have learned how to create the substrates, this online course is a wonderful accompaniment to increase understanding of color, composition, balance, and other art elements to incorporate into your art. All of these dot and mosaic techniques can be used in a variety of ways. Throughout the course, Erin urges you to think of other ways to incorporate these techniques into your own work, in your own ways.
The beauty of this online course is that if you missed something or want to learn it again, you can refer back as often as you like. This course is broken up into sections so that you can watch and learn each section, and then move on to the next step. No need to play and then pause. (We recommend watching the entire course before diving in.) Once you have all the tools and materials necessary, go have fun!
It is recommended that you learn how to mix the tinted mortars and create Erin's handmade tinted mortar substrates before learning how to create the underpainting and dots in this course. There is an option to buy both of her courses in a bundle in the Mosaic Arts Online library. If you know how to tint mortar, create tinted mortar substrates, and want to move into learning how to make dots and mosaic with them, then this course is for you.
There is a full PDF with all the tools, materials, and resources, so that you can get started. You will also be introduced to these materials in the third section of this course. Erin has included everything in this course so that you, the student, can feel as though she is right there with you.
Your Instructor
"All of my work culminates from the many different techniques I have studied and have been exposed to my whole life: weaving, dying, printmaking, drawing, painting, casting, sculpting, and mosaic. My work always has an element of time, marking changes, and shifting perspectives. The work is not a suspension of one moment in time, but the accumulation of moments within one piece. Using seemingly meandering lines of individually cut coloured tile woven together to create layers of meaning throughout my work."
Course Curriculum
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StartIntro to using colorful substrates with dots and mortar tesserae. (6:29)
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StartDownloadable PDF with Tools, Materials and Resources.
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StartEverything you will need to create with Erin (4:12)
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StartHow to create an underpainting using layers and scraping techniques (10:20)
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StartHow to create an underpainting using your hands. (8:29)
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StartHow to “highlight” an already created dry underpainting using wet mortar. (3:05)
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StartIntroduction to the "Dots". (3:44)
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StartMaterials needed to create dots. (2:35)
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StartBagging up the mortar and creating single dots. (9:39)
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StartCreating single dots with gold tesserae. (4:35)
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StartHow to create double dots. (4:16)
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StartHow to create triple dots. (5:00)
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StartHow to cut the unglazed porcelain tiles into "sticks". (3:53)
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StartHow to create a mosaic with the “dots” and “sticks”. (4:57)
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StartAdhering the dots to the handmade substrate. (9:26)
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StartWorking on the substrate with "dots" and "sticks", Part 2. (10:25)
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StartBONUS! How to create your own tinted mortar tesserae. (5:57)