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Monthly Painting Project: 1 April 2004
Paint With Numbers: A Mondrian
Create your own version of a Piet Mondrian geometric painting.
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 Related Resources
• All Painting Projects
• 1st April 2003 Project
• 1st April 2002 Project
 

"Colour exists only through another colour, dimension is defined by another dimension, there is no position except in opposition to another position." – Piet Mondrian

Think Piet Mondrian and you think of large geometric paintings with assymetrical rectangles of primary colours on a grid of strong black lines. It's hard to imagine that he began as a landscape painter and was influenced by Fauvism, Symbolism, and Cubism on his way to his characteristic abstractions.

"In order to survive, Mondrian had been a painter of flowers on porcelain for practically his whole life. Perhaps this explains his hatred of nature. ... [Mondrian] suppressed curves and all greens because they reminded him of trees, which he loathed. ... In 1924 the artist broke away from Theo van Doesburg, who ... maintained that the slanted line at a 45-degree incline better corresponded to the dynamism of modern man." (Art of Our Century, ed Jean-Louis Ferrier, page 429.)

This project enables you to recreate your own Mondrian-style painting without the worry of getting the colours wrong or having the frustrations of putting a rectangle of the wrong size in the wrong place.

You will need:
• A printout of the template of a Mondrian-style painting below (if you're using a PC, right-click on the template and select "print picture"). The size of the template is unfortunately limited by the format of this web page and if you wish to create a larger version, which would of course be more akin to a true Mondrian as he liked to work on a large scale, the easiest is to enlarge the template on a photocopier, in sections if necessary. Alternatively, you could scale it up by hand using a grid.
• Four tubes or tubs of paint (oils, acrylics, watercolour, gouache, tempera, posterpaint, food colouring or whatever you usually use for masterworks) in the following colours: black, white, red, blue. Whether you choose a warm or cool red or blue is a matter of personal preference, but it's suggested that you ensure that both are either warm or cool and not to select one that is warm and one that is cool as this will create disharmony.
• At least two brushes, one small for the areas labelled 4, and one larger for the areas labelled 1 through 3. You may well find it easier to have a separate brush for colours 1 through 3.

What you're going to do:
• Fasten the template onto a board so you can paint it. If you dislike a sheet of paper buckling when you work on it, it is suggested that you stretch the sheet of paper on which the template is printed out as you would a sheet of watercolour paper.
• Decide which colours you are going to use for numbers 1 through 3. Black should be reserved for the areas marked 4.
• Paint in each area in its designated colour, taking to care to ensure that your lines are perfectly straight and that colours are not put into incorrect areas.

Helpful Tips:
• To get perfectly straight lines when colouring in an area, use masking tape to ensure that the paint doesn't drift over where it's not wanted. Unless, of course, you've a very steady hand.
• Instead of painting in the black stripes, buy some black duct tape and put this down instead. Be sure to buy it in the right width, as it's difficult to cut a length of tape in half evenly.


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