Bowlafruit Critique

Last week I showed you this watercolor painting by Jim, who asked me for a critique.

This is what I told him:

“Wow, you are a get-‘er-dun kind of guy! Love the title too. . . (I’m puzzling over what to call my painting of the same scene that isn’t too dumb, obvious and boring)

“Your shapes look great, the textures are convincing and the colors of the fruit are bright.

“3 suggestions for a little better results (just to push it up a level):

“1. If the background part of the reflection is darker than looking out onto the grass (wow, so cumbersome to find words when if we were together I could just point!), then it will have more impact. This is because the contrast will be greater both between the inside and outside of the window, and between the reflections of fruit and background.

“2. Edges of reflections and shadows should be fuzzy EVEN IF they appear sharp in life or in a photo. It helps the viewer know which is real and which is an illusion (bring to mind that poem at the end of Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues – I loved that song in 8th grade)

“3. I know nothing of watercolor so this might be useless information but here goes. . . the shadows on your lemon and lime look as if you just put black there (could be the monitor, the photo, the airwaves between your town and Three Rivers. . .) When I want a shadow in oil, I mix a darker version of the same color. Often shadows will show in a photo as black, but we have to disregard that visual information and make the color be a real color. (stupid deceptive lying sneaky cheating photos)”

And here is Jim’s reply:

“Thanks so much for your quick response…I understand everything you said, and I appreciate it, especially about the shadows on the fruit. I didn’t know that, so, wow, that’s valuable information. I really thank you, also, for your encouragement. I want to get to the point where I call myself and artist and BELIEVE it.

Blessings, my friend,

Jim

“Oh, and feel absolutely free to use any of my stuff on the blog; that’s the purpose, right? Even throw your suggestions to me on there if you desire. There’s so much we can all learn from each other in this world if we’re honest.”

Jim is smart, nice, funny, hard-working, and talented. (Forget it – he is married!)

Bowlafruit

A man named Jim took drawing lessons from me. His real desire was to learn to paint with watercolor, but he is a very smart guy and knew he needed to hone his drawing skills first. After several private lessons (in which the student learns at an accelerated rate), he was off and running.

Jim saw my photo of the Most Beautiful Fruit Bowl I’ve Ever Seen and asked permission to paint it. I’ve got a strong attachment to all my drawing students, both past and present, and it is my goal to help each one further their art skills. Besides, I was flattered, so of course I said yes.

He sent the painting to me and asked for a critique. That sort of request can be weird between people. If you don’t know the person really well or haven’t established an honest relationship, it can be a real sticky wicket. (No, I have no idea what that expression really means.) Does the asker just want reassurance that his work is good? Does he want suggestions?

It is a very important part of my drawing lessons that we are honest with one another. Your mom and your best friend and your little sister will say “Wow! That is beautiful! You really draw good!” If you overlook their grammar and manage to resist the effort to correct them, you can bask in the praise.

It feels good but it isn’t very helpful. When you are among people who draw, people you trust to be kind while speaking the truth, and you are able to hear the truth without resisting and arguing, you can really improve your art and your skills.

You can learn both from being the critique-er and from being the critique-ee. For that reason, I frequently ask my students to let me have it about my own work, and we all enjoy the process.

Jim and I established that sort of relationship when he took lessons from me, so I felt comfortable telling him the truth about his painting. Here it is for you to see, and next week I will share the conversation we had about it.

Bowlafruit, watercolor, by Jim

Normally on Tuesday. . .

. . . I would be teaching people how to draw. This happens at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter. No lessons in July or August because in the past, the attendance was abysmal during those months. Besides, it is just hot!

I’ve been teaching people how to draw since 1994. Looking back, I’m not sure I really knew how to draw or how to teach back then. People learned anyway.

Some of my students call what we do “art lessons”. I usually correct them and say “Drawing Lessons – I’m just teaching you how to draw.”

Whenever I take this 2 month break, I really miss my students. The interaction among each class is fun. They learn from me and from each other. I learn from them too. We all become friends, and it is just a thrill to see the progress each of them makes.

Hush up, California Artist, and show us what they have done!

Mrs. Bob's Italian Village

 

Limey Girl's old fashioned rose
Even tennis players can draw! This is plum blossoms, in case you were wondering.
Mae's A-mae-zing Pears in colored pencil

 

For more blog posts about drawing lessons, click here.

Four Benefits of Learning to Draw Before Learning to Paint

As a self-confessed color junkie, I’ve pondered the question of why pencil? Was I just a chicken? That’s all water under the bridge, and now I am just accepting the fact of 13 years of drawing with a late start to oil and mural painting.

It ain’t all bad!

Drawing in pencil helped me develop several areas of skill. The subject has been covered very thoroughly here and here. Since I like lists, here is a list of the benefits of learning to draw well before learning to paint.

  1. Drawing teaches perspective. That is how things look distant or close.
  2. Drawing teaches proportion. That is how one size relates to another.
  3. Drawing forces an understanding of values. That is the darks and lights.
  4. Drawing teaches composition. That is the way things are arranged on a page or canvas

If I hadn’t learned to draw first, it would have taken me much longer to learn how to paint. Not saying I know how to paint well, just saying that I’m grateful to have had all those years of drawing first!

If you would like to learn about drawing lessons, you can read this blog post or check the lessons page on my website. Or both.

Meanwhile, have a look at this California artist’s pencil and oil renderings of oranges. You can see that the pencil picture has more precision and detail – needs it, because there is no color. Someone said recently “Values do all the work, but color gets all the credit!” True, but I think detail does a ton of work too.

Washington Navels, graphite, sold

One of the 100+ oil paintings of oranges so far, sold

Drawing Tools

Hmmm, that could mean “creating a picture of tools using a pencil”. It doesn’t. It means this blog post is going to explain to you some tools used in drawing. I probably used all the techniques (except the last one)  in this drawing called “Release”.

An eraser shouldn’t need explaining. It erases; you get that! But, did you know an eraser can do these things too:

  • It can draw. (yup, it can draw light things onto dark spaces)
  • It can soften hard edges. (especially helpful if you need to add on to something)
  • It can smear things that were too specific.
  • It can create hard edges.

An erasing shield looks like a 2×3″ metal template. It is used by architects and engineers to isolate small parts in order to erase only them and not their neighbors. (so called “friendly fire”). But it can be used for these things too:

  • It can serve as a block to shade right up to a straight edge.
  • It can act as a template.
  • It can provide a shield so that you can create a hard edge with your eraser.

Now that I give it thought, a pencil can do more than just draw or write.

  • It can shade (duh!)
  • It can smooth out previous shading
  • It can make an impressed line (meaning scratched into the paper so it doesn’t take any more color)
  • It can scratch an itch in your ear (not recommended)

And thus we conclude another free drawing lesson.

Can you think of any other uses for these tools?

 

More Drawing Lessons

On Tuesdays, I teach people how to draw. You can read a bit more about it here on my website.

I love to help people draw in pencil. The only people who haven’t learned are the ones who quit too soon. Why did they quit? Because it wasn’t instant. or it was too hard, or it wasn’t what they really wanted to learn.

Nothing worth learning is done well without practice.

Actually, I can’t think of anything that can be done right the first time. Malcolm Gladwell says in his book Outliers that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. He is talking about intentional focused practice, with the purpose of improving rather than mindless repeating.

Jennifer has been drawing since she was a little girl. I don’t think she had any specific instruction, just some practice, some natural talent, and lots of desire. She is careful, and listens well to directions. This is her first drawing with me,  and it is almost finished.

The photocopies are so that she could try various methods of drawing the mane. I showed her one, and she tried it. She thought of another, and tried that. Suddenly, she got it, she was ready, and now her horse is finished!

Great work, Jennifo! (please excuse the inside joke)

3 Little Known Factors that Could Affect Your Ability to Draw

Pencil drawing from the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia

I have a theory about people who draw. It is based on teaching people how to draw since 1994. In addition to teaching people how to draw, I draw myself. (Oh? You didn’t know that about me?) I have also spoken to many people who draw for fun and those who draw for profit.

If you have the following three qualities, I believe you might be able to really draw well:

  1. Perfectionistic tendencies
  2. Nearsightedness
  3. Lefthandedness

None of these things are necessary, but each one has its strength.

Perfectionism

Perfectionists seem to do well with the finicky detailed nature of pencil drawing. Detail is hugely important in drawing well. So are values (the lights and darks), composition, hard edges and soft edges in the appropriate places. And proportion – oh my goodness – gotta get those shapes and sizes right. Getting the idea yet? There are many things that have to be Just Right in drawing, because there is no color to distract.

I am not a perfectionist and have to work hard to remember to stop the “get-er’dun” tendencies. It is fun to finish things. It isn’t fun to think I am finished and have to return to fix something.

Nearsightedness

If you are nearsighted, you are more tuned in to detail. Sometimes it is all a myopic person can see! I think of it as an asset for a pencil artist. (Glass is always half full!)

Up until a few years ago (ahem) I was able to put my nose a few inches from a pair of ants playing checkers and know who was winning. (What? You’ve never seen ants play checkers?) I might still be able to do this if I pop out my contact lenses. Now, with the contacts, I have to wear old-people-sit-on-your-nose magnifiers. Sometimes they aren’t strong enough. And have you noticed that all the lights are dimmer than they used to be?

Left-handedness

There is a connection between the left hand and the right side of the brain. (There is a book about it called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards.) The right side understands the non-verbal things in life such as proportions, perspective, and values. The theory is that left handed folks are right-brain dominant and thus more naturally equipped for tasks such as drawing.

I am right handed. Oh-oh, I can hear you wondering how I could possibly be an artist with 2 strikes against me. Here is the answer: I am left-eyed. A dominant left-eye is almost as good as a dominant left hand. (Phew, had you worried there, didn’t I?)

If you don’t have a single one of these three qualities but you want to learn how to draw, I can still teach you how.

The only people who haven’t learned to draw from me are the ones who quit too soon!

A Drawing Success Story

I have a favorite customer named Bob. In Artspeak, he would be referred to as a “collector”. (I try to avoid Artspeak in this blog, because I think it is read by more normal folks than those who use Artspeak.)

Bob has a wonderful wife, with whom I have been acquainted since 1973. Really! She began taking drawing lessons from me last fall, and was just sure she would be the exception to my assertion that I can teach anyone to draw. Bob was also sure she would prove me wrong.

Mrs. Bob worked her way through the beginning exercises. She did well. She likes to get an A on her work, so in spite of the fact that drawing lessons come with no homework, no grades, no tests and no deadlines, I happily gave her As. She earned them, too!

When it was time to start, she chose a hairy dog. It scared her a bit. (No, it didn’t bite her!) All my reassurances that it was only paper and we could erase didn’t help.

I realized that she needed a subject that meant less to her. Many of my beginning students have found it easier to draw old wood than anything else, so I found a photo of a window on an old shed wall.

Bob My Favorite Customer occasionally asked Mrs. Bob about her progress. He wasn’t encouraging. He is still My Favorite Customer. They are still married.

Mrs. Bob was very determined, and we slowly worked through many of the techniques that a good pencil drawing requires. She stopped showing Bob her progress, and he stopped asking.

Bob’s birthday was a week ago. Mrs. Bob presented him with this:

Want to know what Bob said?

“Who drew this??”

Isn’t that just the best ever drawing lessons story?? 😎

Here is a closer version, and it really looks better than it photographed while under glass.

Texture, depth, contrast, detail, and precision – WOW! Congratulations, Mrs. Bob!

7 Things Your Drawing Teacher Won’t Tell You

The Honeymoon Cabin, pencil on paper, 11×14, $400

If your drawing teacher is me, that is. These are things I would never say to a student:

  1. Sorry, you don’t have any talent.
  2. Doesn’t matter if your pencil isn’t sharp. Just use any old stub you can find.
  3. You don’t need to be able to draw – just go start painting.
  4. That pencil drawing would look great in a bright red mat!
  5. How boring – don’t you want to add color to that?
  6. You don’t need a photograph – just make it up.
  7. Doesn’t matter what it is supposed to look like – just express yourself.

I’ve been teaching drawing lessons since 1994 and not a single one of those things has ever come out of my mouth. Okay, maybe I had someone make up grass or dirt a few times without really studying it very well, but then we had to erase it and start over again.

The Great Talent Hoax

Pencil drawing for The Cabins of Wilsonia

Have you ever thought or said to an artist, “Gee, it must be great to have talent”? Or have you you ever said, “I wish I had talent like that”?

It’s all smoke and mirrors.

Actually, it’s not. It is practice, training, practice, rough criticism, more practice, a little success, practice, trial and error, practice, a little public embarrassment and yet even more practice.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book “Outliers” that it takes 10,000 hours of intentional practice with a focus toward continual improvement to become an expert at something. He’s not talking about mindless repetition.

Practice makes perfect. Erasers help too.

The harder I work, the more talented I become.

Practice, practice, practice. And, have a second more objective pair of eyes that is connected to a truthful mouth that is connected to a kind heart have a look at your work.

My Very Wise Dad told me of a concert pianist who had to practice 8 hours a day. When he dropped to 6 hours, he could tell the difference. When he dropped to 4 hours, his audience could tell the difference.

The only people who don’t learn to draw are the ones who quit drawing lessons too soon. Those who persist begin to think they have talent.

They might be right.

Sometimes people quit drawing lessons (or piano or ballet or drumming or guitar or knitting) because they don’t love it enough to practice as hard as talent requires.

Think I put enough cliches in this blog entry? 😎 Perhaps I need to practice my writing skills more.