
Marion Rivolier
Marion Rivolier is a painter and a scenographer from Paris, France. She spent time exploring bodies, space and movement through drawing and painting. She obtained a degree in Visual Arts in 1996 and then she attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. She discovered scenography, the art of space, a discipline in perfect harmony with her work as a painter: the dialogue between moving bodies and space.
What interests Marion the most is to grasp the movement and the light on location. Watercolor is for her the richest and most responsive medium, because it allows to go from an intense color to absolute transparency. Watercolor allows her to quickly capture the light, color and movement of a place or action.
She is an active member of the Urban Sketchers Paris collective for which she is involved in ambitious projects around transmission and the social field (Secours Populaire and Paris La Santé penitentiary center).
In 2020, she published “Capturer l’âme d’un lieu par la forme et la couleur à l’aquarelle” published by Eyrolles, a guide through her practice as an artist. The book is now available in Spanish and English by Hoaki Books (“Acuarela contemporanea in situ”). In 2023, “Dessiner au musée avec les enfants” (with B. Lannaud Levy as co-author) has been published by Eyrolles.
Workshop: Capturing a place in colored values’ contrasts / First steps in Direct Watercolor
Marion Rivolier invites you to explore a place with a brush directly in watercolor.
It will be about learning to observe, analyze, express and tell your own story of the scene.
You will work, directly with a brush, without preliminary drawing, on a sketchbook. You will explore the possibilities of watercolor to compose, frame, work on values and colored contrasts, paint with emptiness and learn to make choices.
You will learn to consider space in large masses of color rather than lines and contours. It will be a question of listening to your subject to express its essence quickly but without haste.
You will not bother to make a nice drawing or to obtain a beautiful result. It will be a question of experimenting, of making mistakes and of progressing in the understanding of the gesture, the colored values and the depth of the place.
Part1
Don’t be afraid with the brush!
We will test together our supplies (brushes, watercolors, etc.) by working on colors mix and colors charts.
Part 2
To sculpt space in colored values’ contrasts in three short exercises.
By focusing on values, we will try to understand how colored values can create depth and volume. We will work together on identifying and express lights and shadows then on warm and cool values. We will paint only with the brush, with large brushstrokes to avoid to be lost in details. We will analyses the place in several layers in succession to be able to express it in large shapes. We will work on lights and shades because of the negative space and we will understand the importance of the white of the paper.
At the end of the workshop, we will gather to speak about the works and this experience of painting directly with the brush.
Supply list
- A watercolor sketchbook in landscape format (Moleskine or Hahnemuhle), minimum A4 (8 1/2″ x 11”) or some sheets of watercolor paper, minimum A3;
- A box of watercolors with a limited palette (primary yellow, Naples yellow, orange, vermilion, carmin red, phtalo blue, Blue Lake or dark Ultramarine, Indigo blue, green, burnt umber… No black); For example, the White Nights by Nevskaya Palitra:
- Yellow / 211,
- Naples yellow / 209,
- Golden / 216
- Orange / 315
- Scarlet Red / 318,
- Quinachridone pink / 324,
- Ruby / 323,
- Bright blue / 509,
- Blue Lake / 510,
- Indigo / 516,
- Green / 725,
- Sepia / 413
- Three paintbrushes (small, medium and large);
- several clips to hold your paper in place;
- Some water (for painting) in a small container;
- if you have a small transportable seat, you can take it.
Saturday, March 15th, 10 to 13 - Morning workshop: W3 (M) - Marion Rivolier Saturday, March 15th, 16 to 19 - Afternoon workshop: W3 (T) - Marion Rivolier
Workshop's Languages: French (English/Spanish) Location: to be determined