This show is all graphite pencil, 3 of my (very) advanced drawing students and me. It is part of Visalia’s monthly Art Walk, an event in downtown Visalia on the first Friday of each month. See you there?
Pencil Show Coming Soon
A pencil show? Yes, an art show of only pencil drawings by 3 of my advanced drawing students and me!
Some facts:
Title: Gray Matter
Dates: Friday, May 5 and Friday, June 2
Location: Brandon-Mitchell Gallery, 117 So. Locust in Downtown Visalia (between Main and Acequia, west side of the street)
Time: 5-8 p.m.
Participants: Kelvin Farris, Maggie Meling, Wendy Miller, Jana Botkin
We are part of the monthly “Art Walk” in Downtown Visalia. There are many business and art studios that join in this regular event. This is something I’ve never gone to, so I don’t know what to expect. However, you can expect some wonderful pencil drawings, including these.
No Face Smaller Than an Egg
That’s what I tell my students, and perhaps I need to specify that I am NOT speaking of a hummingbird egg.
But, sometimes my students test their skills while also testing mine. I warn, nag, deny, forbid, warn some more and finally capitulate, but with more warnings.
When someone insists on doing a drawing that I know from experience will be too hard, I just help them as much as possible, and moan the entire time. (Good thing I am not a parent.)
Susan is a classic case. She is determined, committed, focused, and perseverant. Look what she did! Yes, she erased the face multiple times, and there was one day where I almost shouted at every class, “LEAVE YOUR ERASERS BY THE FRONT DOOR TODAY!!” As she would leave class sometimes, I would tell her, “DON’T TOUCH THE FACE!”
Why she puts up with me, I’m not sure. She is a remarkable person doing a fantastic job of learning to draw. Congratulations, Susan, on a job well done!
P.S. To everyone else taking drawing lessons, NO FACE SMALLER THAN A GOOSE EGG! (At least I didn’t say an emu egg, although I felt like it.)
Finishing Drawings For Other People
Every week I teach people how to draw and have been doing this since 1994. Sometimes people stay for years, sometimes they discover it isn’t for them after a few lessons, and sometimes a year or two satisfies their itch to learn to draw. Sometimes people grow up, graduate, move away, retire, travel, or something else.
Two girls quit drawing lessons and left unfinished work. I don’t remember when this happened, and somehow I ended up with the drawings and the photos from which they were working.
This may surprise you, Gentle Reader, but I am not a perfectionist. I am a finisher. It takes focus and discipline for me to try and perfect something, and it isn’t natural behavior for me. (Remember the drawing of the bridge over the Tule River a few months ago, the one that I used for February in the 2017 calendar? Yikes. I needed a perfectionist to stop me from printing that before I embarrassed myself.)
Girl One began a drawing of a border collie, her very first (and last) with me, working from a calendar. I don’t work from copyrighted photos, but often my students do. I am friends with Girl One’s dad, so I thought I’d surprise him with this:
She did the hard work of setting it up and shaded the eyes before deciding that drawing lessons weren’t for her. I had fun finishing it, and then I signed both of our names.
Girl Two was with me from 6th grade until she graduated from high school. She left this unfinished self-portrait. I am friends with her parents, so I thought I’d finish it and give it to them.
She did the hard work of setting it all up and shading the eyes and mouth. This made it easy to just add more shading, and wow, what a pretty girl! Again, I signed both of our names.
I don’t know the proper protocol for any of this, so I make it up as I go along. There is tremendous satisfaction in finishing things and giving them to the people who will appreciate them.
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAMMIE!
Last week I took a small stack of pencil drawings to a framer because I have a show coming in the spring. As I was lining them out on his counter, I decided that there is something wrong with this picture. It isn’t anything I can put my finger on; I just don’t think it is good enough and I don’t know why.
One of the things I teach my drawing students is honest evaluations of drawings. We tell each other the truth (kindly, of course) because it is how we learn and grow. It is too hard to find flaws in one’s own work, just like it is impossible to proof one’s own writing.
This is what I heard:
- not enough darks
- weird road curve into the distance
- something wrong with the shoulder of the road
- edges of bridge arches too clean – should be more pock-marked for its age
- furthest pillars wrong size
I thought about just shredding the drawing. Please forgive me for inflicting this on those of you who bought a calendar – try to be brave through the month of February. At least it is the shortest month!
Then I thought that seeing the photos might help us all understand.
I actually worked from 3 photos, picking and choosing the best and most visible parts of each.
This sort of dissatisfying result is probably because I worked from photos instead of standing there on location with a sketchbook. Of course, then I might have gotten run over, bitten by a rattlesnake or a mosquito with a nasty disease, gotten too hot or too cold or sunburned or maybe bugs would have landed on my paper or the wind might have blown it away.
I hate it when that happens.
Will I try to figure it out and rework the drawing? Probably not. I used spray fixative (actually called “Fixatif”, which on of my drawing students says ought to work on any marriage!) which makes it not erasable.
Color Bullies, Part 2
My advanced drawing students successfully bullied me into 2 oil painting workshops. We had a great time!
A rebel set aside her Sequoia painting that she began last week. This is of the Tetons from a photo she took. I painted the scene first so it would be a little easier for her. (I had the assignment of copying an “Old Master” during the 1/2 semester of painting I took at the local junior college – copying is a good way to learn.)
We had an overachiever who worked on 2 paintings at the same time.
Good job, E! You get an A for sure. No rebelling, one painting at a time.
Turned out that two painters did choose the same scene. We put them side by side, and learned that the one on the left could benefit from stronger colors and more contrast, and the one on the right could benefit from more detail. Interesting exercise! (They look different in real life than on the screen because I had to mess with the photo because it didn’t look right because. . . . on and on and on. Never mind.)
At the end of our session, it turns out that we had two rebels and five Sequoia trees. Yes, that is a cat, but the cat painter is actually drawing a Sequoia tree in pencil these days.
None of these paintings are finished. They need more layers, more details, some color corrections, edges of canvas painted, signatures, and varnish.
This probably means there will be another painting session ahead.
12 More Reasons to Take Drawing Lessons
Drawing lessons from me, not just drawing lessons in general, although learning to draw from me might be a problem if you live in Oklahoma or Minnesota.
- Because learning to draw is on your bucket list
- Because you had a mean art “teacher” who made you feel like an idiot and you want to undo some of that psychological scarring
- Because you used to draw but think you might have forgotten how
- Because you don’t like the way you draw
- Because you don’t know how to draw
Because your mom/wife/grandma/sister/husband/boyfriend made you- Because you always thought it looked fun
- Because other people are having so much fun in drawing lessons
- Because you always said you’d learn new skills after you retired
- Because it is only $55 a month and therefore much more affordable than violin lessons
- Because it is safer than horseback riding lessons (ask Lou about this)
- Because I am a dang good drawing teacher
That’s really only 11 reasons, because #6 is NOT a reason to take lessons.
You can learn more about drawing lessons here.
12 Reasons To Take Drawing Lessons (from me!)
Drawing lessons begin on Tuesday, September 6, 2016.
I might have a little space in a class or two, and can’t find my waiting list. Are you thinking about taking lessons? Here are 12 reasons to consider drawing lessons:
- Because you were told it would be a miracle if you ever learned to draw
- Because you want to be the first person who proves me wrong when I say that I can teach anyone to draw
- Because you want to be able to sketch ideas in order to design clothing
- Because you want to hone the skills you already have
- Because you need something to do
- Because you want to meet women (That’s what Ralph said.)
- Because you paint a little and your shapes look wrong
- Because you always knew you could if you had a little help learning how
- Because if you don’t pay me monthly, you won’t bother drawing
- Because you think it might help you sit still
- Because you are about to go to art school and are afraid you will look incompetent
- Because you are an elementary teacher and drawing skills are expected of you
- (a baker’s dozen, perhaps?) Because maybe you could get as good as Lou (see “Armed” above)
You can learn more about drawing lessons here.
Drawing Lessons
Since 1994 I have been teaching people how to draw. We don’t go outside and sketch. We sit inside and work from photos. We learn to break a complex photo into its basic shapes, how to start a drawing, to get all the shapes and proportions right, how to shade so that it appears 3 dimensional and how to finish it off to be the best possible.
I have about 20 students, ranging in age from 13 to Too-Polite-To-Ask.
Everyone works at his own pace on the subject of his own choosing. We generally don’t doggedly copy photos but do some well-thought-out cropping, and in general just clean up the mess that real life consists of.
I encourage everyone to work from her own photos rather than things from calendars, magazines and the internet. Not everyone has a good camera or a backlog of photos, and often I will lend photos to my students.
Usually each person has an idea of what he wants to draw.
The main thing is this: PICK SOMETHING YOU LOVE BECAUSE YOU WILL BE STARING AT IT FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
Drawing Lessons
Since 1994 I have been teaching people how to draw. Each class has 3-5 people who meet together for one hour per week. There are 5 of these classes in Exeter at the Courthouse Gallery on Tuesdays. (but not in July, August or December)
Each person works at his own pace on his own drawing. Some have been with me for a month now, some for about 10 years. The only ones who don’t learn are the ones who quit too soon.
Everyone comes for a different reason. Here are some:
- To learn how to get their shapes and proportions more accurate so they can paint better.
- A desire to prove some art “teacher” wrong, who told them they have no talent. (Isn’t that mean!? Wasn’t the “teacher” there to help?? )
- A love of learning how to do new things.
- A desire for a new hobby.
- Always thinking it might suit them, and finally making the time to investigate that interest.
- Already knowing how to draw but needing a specific time and place.
Have a look at what some of my students have either just completed or are currently working on:
There are specifics about drawing lessons here. (Click on the word “here”).
My classes are full right now but you can get on a waiting list. Sometimes people do quit. I don’t think I drive them away. . . life changes, or they got what they came for and move on.