Baroque in bytes: high school.

If you have access to a computer with a paint program installed on it, you can go Baroque with landscapes. Through technology, students can create landscapes in the meticulous style of the seventeenth-century Dutch masters.

I use books and videos on seventeenth-century landscape painting to introduce students to the work of Ruisdael and Vermeer. Through class discussion on the characteristics of the Baroque style and the laborious techniques used by Dutch landscape painters, students become aware of the dramatic value contrasts that can be achieved by blending and smudging. This is a good time to introduce students to the smudge and blending tools in your typical computer graphics program.

Whether you are using a Macintosh, IBM, or a compatible machine, there are a number of paint programs available for your use. Not all software is designed the same, but there are universal features among applications such as the paintbrush, airbrush, pencil, eraser, etc. More advanced applications offer additional features such as a dry brush, gradients, a blending tool, and similar options that help artists create electronic artworks using traditional techniques.

On the computer, students work from a combination of outdoor sketches with detailed notes and photographs. In addition to contrast in value, bright highlights, and dark shadows, students can achieve dramatic effects through contrasts in size and the illusion of deep space. Of course, in keeping with the tradition of the Dutch masters, meticulous rendering is utmost important.

After creating the artwork on the computer, students write a critical analysis of their work in their computer journal before presenting their work to the class.

At our high school, we work in SuperPaint on a Mac. It requires a minimum of 2 megabytes of RAM (4 megabytes is recommended) and at least the 128K ROM version of the Macintosh. The artwork is imaged on a Hewlett Packard Desk Jet 855c printer.

ClipCard submitted by James Wodarek, Jr., a computer art teacher at Baldwin High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.