Drawing Lessons as Apprenticeships?

While reading Jeff Goins’ The Art of Work, I received a bit of reinforcement and validation for my teaching people how to draw. (Thanks, Jeff!)

All along I have said that the only ones who don’t learn how to draw from me are the ones who quit too soon.

Jeff reinforced that thought with this:

An apprenticeship is designed to give you guidance from an expert, knowledge in a given field, and experience in a challenging environment . . . It takes a lot of courage and tenacity to not only find but to finish an apprenticeship.

It makes me a little squirmy to consider myself an expert at teaching people how to draw, but if I am not an expert after 21 years, then I must just be a poser. If that is the case, how did all these people learn to draw so well??

End of the Trail

The End of the Trail, drawing in pencil by Kelvin Farris

It does take courage. Many people have come to me quietly on the side to say how nervous they are. I do my best to explain that I will help them in any way I can. The reason they are taking lessons is to learn, not to show me what they already can do!

I don’t teach drawing lessons the way P.E. teachers “taught” sports when I was a kid. If you “got it”, then you were praised and given extra encouragement, respect and perks. If you didn’t “get it”, you were yelled at. “Try harder!” is not teaching. “Don’t be afraid of the ball” is not teaching. “Run faster” is not teaching.

Teaching is breaking down difficult and complicated material into small and manageable steps, while explaining exactly how and why, and then giving ways to practice those steps until they make sense. It is showing the way, and when one approach doesn’t make sense, the good teacher finds another way to demonstrate. It is giving the student the chance to practice as much as necessary until he is comfortable and understands the process.

No deadlines, no homework (unless requested), no tests, no pressure and certainly no yelling (and no piano recitals either) in drawing lessons, just learning. Each student goes at his own pace working on the subject matter of his own choosing.

The Art of Work: A proven path to discovering what you were meant to do by Jeff Goins may be just what I need to validate my choice of art as a profession in spite of being in the poorest part of one of the least educated counties in California. I am a Central California artist!

The Art of Work and Drawing Lessons

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial, pencil on paper, size forgotten, price undetermined, drawn because I love to draw, love this piece of history and love this architectural style. Any questions? Use the contact button above and I’ll do my best to answer.

The Art of Work by Jeff Goins is at the top of my current stack of books. I discovered Jeff’s writing a few years ago when he wrote about how words actually mean things, and then he composed a list of currently misused words, such as “literally” when the right word is “figuratively”. . . “He literally shot himself in the foot.” Oh yeah? Is he able to walk anymore? (That’s really gross, and I know it because I saw it on a slide in a CCW class.)

Besides enjoying Jeff’s writing, the subject matter of this book grabbed my attention. “A proven path to discovering what you were meant to do” sounds profound to me at a time when I am questioning the wisdom of pursuing art as a career. (This has been a regular question throughout my career – it’s part of a cycle rather than a real crisis.)

In the chapter about apprenticeships there are several sentences that really rang my bell (figuratively, not literally, because I don’t actually have a bell). He quoted Ellen Frank, a master craftsman (craftswoman? craftsperson? or “man” as in “human”?) from East Hampton, New York who runs an atelier.

They [her students} also acquire validation. It’s not teaching through critique. It’s not teaching through judging their own work. It’s teaching through saying, ‘Yes, and why not try this?’ and ‘Yes, can you push this farther?’

That’s what I strive for in teaching drawing lessons! That’s it exactly!

I show people what I know, how the tools work best, how to recognize what might make a good drawing, how to start, how to push through the messy parts. I help them make their own work better by sharing techniques, encouraging them to pursue the subjects that they love (not everyone is enamored by old architecture, shocking as that may be to realize) and cheering them on when they feel stalled.

I love to teach people how to draw. It feels a little weird to think of it as “apprenticeships”, but that is sort of what is happening, one hour per week and 4 students at a time.

 

 

Broken Communication in an Information Age

I got an email from a stranger in Kansas who googled “pencil drawing of a cabin”. YEA! This brought him to “Cabinart”! He had seen a drawing of the Clover Creek Bridge on my site and then could no longer find it. (Since the site has been rebuilt, I left off some of the older pieces because I don’t like how they look with a watermark across them.)

clovercreek_bridge_1

 

I sent him a mess of pictures of bridges, trying to determine which one he was asking about. (love those bridges) I didn’t even remember this one, and finally he sent me photos of his sketchbook where he copied my drawing.

He didn’t ask my permission to draw from my drawing, but having stuff on the internet means that people can either be ignorant of copyright laws or just ignore them. (Same root word – anyone know Latin to further explain this?)

I didn’t mind, and was happy to help him. It is fun to help people draw better, so I gave him tips for drawing, and then I asked his permission to show you his sketch.

He didn’t respond.

My email? His busy life? An unreasonable request?

This is broken communication in an age of information. . . cell phones, texting, voice mail, email, regular mail, normal telephones. . . and still we lose opportunities, lose clarity, lose focus, and lose our train of thought.

If he replies with permission, I’ll show you his sketch. He did well with proportions before asking my input. I hope that he’ll incorporate my tips and send another photo. It would be fun to show you his before and after.

More Secret Oil Painting Workshop

Here are more photos and commentary from the secret oil painting workshop that I gave for my advanced drawing students.  There are perquisites to taking drawing lessons – I lend photos, do scanning and photoshop prep for turning drawings into cards, and give secret oil painting workshops, among other benefits.

We decided that the fruit on the left must be a pluot. This painter was not happy with her painting but the rest of the group thinks it is a fantastic first layer, because IT IS!!

This painter photographed the Tetons while on a road trip. I borrowed a photo to paint from, then lent her my painting because often it is just easier to work from other people’s paintings than a photo or live scene.

This one looks a little weird because the paint was so wet that it really caught the flash on the camera. This painter is very brave – I suggested just picking one pomegranate to paint, and she chose to do all three. This is the first time in at least 40 years that she has oil painted, and this painting will be gorgeous!

This painter is used to extremely detailed pencil drawings and is a little doubtful that her orange will look good. She really dislikes the color of the shadow side of the orange, so next time we will mix something that pleases her.

Oil painting is a ton of work, so I want my students to be very happy with the results. I also have told them that anyone who doesn’t like her painting or can’t finish it can pass it to me and I will complete it for her.

See? Perqs!

Secret Oil Painting Workshop

That’s right – SECRET oil painting workshop! I’ve only been an oil painter since March 8, 2006, learning by guess and by golly on my own, experimenting and bumbling along, taking and quitting a couple of classes, reading up, asking questions of other painters, watching some videos. What I know, which is precious little, I am willing to share, but only with my drawing students.

Why only them?

I know my students’ abilities and their individual methods of learning, and they know my abilities and style of teaching. The secret oil painting workshop is just for those who are interested (Duh) and for those who are comfortable enough with their drawing skills and the terms we use and techniques we practice.

Because I don’t give drawing lessons in December, we have several Tuesdays to work with. We will do two, but the dates don’t matter, because it is a Secret painting workshop. Two days are necessary because of the slow drying time involved with oil paints, and besides that, it is hard to focus on a project for enough hours to get ‘er dun.

There were 7 students, and at one point I said, “I FEEL LIKE A WAITRESS WITH TOO MANY TABLES!” Lovely people, each one, and a privilege to share what I know about painting. So often I have to say, “I don’t know but I’ve heard you can do this, that or another thing.” Just bumbling along together, and look what we achieved!

After seeing the photo on the digital camera, this painter commented, “I like my wrist”.

We thought this painter had cut out a photo of a lemon and decoupaged it onto a black canvas! Then she began enlarging it, and next week will be adding some sort of a shadow or something in addition to deepening the colors. Next year I will probably be taking painting lessons from her.

The pomegranate looks distorted because of the angle of the camera. The Sequoias need another layer or two and the orange just wants one more layer. Can you tell my students borrow my photos? 😎

To be continued tomorrow. . .

I Love To Teach People How to Draw

One afternoon per week, I am in Exeter at the Courthouse Gallery of the Arts. Each hour on the half hour, four people come in for their weekly drawing lesson. Each person works at her own pace on her own picture. Or his. We have a great time, and people really learn to draw!

The gallery just got new wood floors in the workshop room and it is beautiful.

We go to great lengths to understand what we are drawing. In spite of having set up the scene and taking and editing multiple photos, Elainea and I found it helpful to have these creatures here in person to really inspect. If we can’t see it, we can’t draw it.

Mae is more than ready to have the background finished on her rose. See? Her hands are flying!

Mary is working on the layout.  (I know – it looks as if she is picking the longhorn’s nose.) To draw, we have to know where everything belongs and get the shapes and sizes right. Proportion is everything.

I teach both adults and pre-adults. As long as you are at least in 6th grade, you can take drawing lessons from me.

Finishing touches are important. Celeste has worked very diligently on this for quite awhile, and it shows. This is FABULOUS!

I love to teach people how to draw. It is all about seeing correctly, and then learning the steps. Then we just inch along, piece by piece, step by step.

A New Art-making Experience in Mineral King

I have a very dear friend who is in college. She is a “Resident Assistant” this year, which is sort of like a camp counselor for a dorm full of freshmen girls. “Freshgirls”? “Freshwomen”? Hmmm. . .

One of her duties is to make some sort of name plates for each dorm room door. When the girls arrive, they will know immediately which room is theirs and feel welcomed when they see their names.

My friend isn’t too inclined toward artistic activities. She told me of her assignment, and I was immediately excited to be able to help her.

We found some scraps of watercolor paper and she bought some watercolor paints. We discussed ideas, I showed her a bit about how watercolor (mis)behaves, and she went to work.

It was so much fun to think about color combinations and make suggestions, then just sit back and see her go to town. (That’s a euphemism for “commence work” – you can see we were nowhere near a town.) We looked for inspiration all over Mineral King.

I think she liked it too. She discovered the splatter technique and really got serious!

Abstract art doesn’t do much for me, but color is so much fun! Here are a few of the 30 or so that she created.

Can you think of a better combination than a dear friend, color and Mineral King? (Okay, throw in a little dark chocolate and maybe some yarn. . . )

Another Secret Oil Painting Workshop

There are benefits to taking drawing lessons from me. One of them is that I offer an occasional oil painting workshop to my drawing students.

(There are a lot of links in this post. So many things reminded me of past posts. If you click on any of them, they will open in a new window, so you won’t lose this post before you finished reading it.)

What? If someone takes lessons, they are offered the opportunity to take more lessons?

Yep. You got it in one.

Shereen is just as careful in her painting as she is in her pencil drawing. This painting will need more layers, but has a very good start. You can see Shereen’s pencil drawing of boots here.

A began this painting in December when I gave 2 other secret oil painting workshops. She thought this wasn’t looking too good, but I betcha when she lets it quietly mull in a corner and then returns to it in a week, she will be as impressed with it as you and I are.

J painted with me in the first workshop and had such great success that she ventured out into new territory for both of us. The lighthouse will happen when the water is dry. Hmmm, what is dry water? Never mind. But did you know that blue is God’s favorite color? I decided this when I was on a ship to Alaska last summer.

L is prolific and dedicated and usually gets things right the first time. I may have been a little too busy at the other table when she began this painting, but when it dries, she’ll be able to deepen the colors.  Aren’t you impressed that she can paint this just using the primary colors? (Pay no attention to the tube of brown or the tube of black – just an optical illusion or something. . .)

She almost finished this pumpkin and has plans for the Sequoia.

And Mary? She snuck out before the camera appeared! She’s painting a beautiful orange.

You Can Do THIS With Colored Pencils?

If my drawing students learn to draw with graphite pencils – i.e. see proportions, understand values (the darks and lights), understand hard and soft edges, and make the tools do what they intend for them to do, then my drawing students who want to can use colored pencils.

Colored pencils (mis)behave differently than graphite pencils. I’ve heard plenty of colored pencil artists say the reason to use colored pencils instead of paint is C O N T R O L.

Colored pencils require many many layers, and it hurts my wrist to use them. However, many of my advanced students choose to use them, and in spite of my ouchy wrist, I can help.

It may appear to you as if Mae has copied her photo as efficiently as a Xerox machine. I can assure you that she has done a fabulous job of interpreting the photo and adjusting it so the drawing makes more sense than the photo. She pays a great deal of attention to detail and chooses what to eliminate and what to enhance.

IMG_4610

May is using Polychromos by Faber Castell. These seem to be the highest quality for the price that I’ve used so far. They are oil based, made in Germany, and last a long time. They are a little fatter so they don’t fit in our normal sharpeners. They are also a little hard to find if you just want to buy them one at a time.

Prismacolor used to be my favorite. I learned their colors beginning with a set of 12 that my Aunt Shirley gave me when I was in 5th grade. They are wax based,  made in the USA,  and break easily, which is exasperating. They are readily available in sets or in one-sies, and can be repaired in the microwave (but don’t tell the company – they don’t take responsibility for the breakage and blame the pencil sharpeners, not the rough handling before they arrive in your hands.) I noticed they are now referred to as “soft-core”, probably a response to all the complaints!

So, yes, you CAN do this with colored pencils (after hours and hours of practice!)

Beautiful Pencil Drawing

Every Tuesday I teach people how to draw at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter. Been doing it for 20 years or so. You can learn about it here. Drawing Lessons

My drawing students are wonderful. They work hard, and they learn and they do beautiful drawings.

jennifer_edited-1

This beautiful woman drew her beautiful granddaughter. It is her first portrait, which is one of the hardest subjects to tackle. She has been drawing with me about 2-1/2 years, and honestly, she had a bit of a head start because she used to touch up portrait photos. But that doesn’t mean this wasn’t hard – it was hard! Everything is hard, so pick something you love, because you’ll be staring at it for a long time.

P.S. Today is my 6th Blogiversary. I still haven’t run out of things to write about!