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!)

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.

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!

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.

Alta Street, done!

Or is it Alta Lane? Alta Drive? Alta Road? I’m talking about Wilsonia, specifically The Cabins of Wilsonia. In my interview with myself, I revealed the strategy for drawing all the cabins. Alphabetically, by street name, means that the first set of drawings is for Alta Street/Lane/Drive/Road.

Nope, you don’t get to see the entire set because I hope you will want to buy the book and not say “that old thing? I already saw it on her blog!”

Let’s have a little drawing lesson. You can’t draw a light thing – instead, you draw the dark around it. The foxglove at the base of this pencil drawing show up because of the boards in the background. In Artspeak, the boards are the “negative space”.

Don’t you feel learned now? And isn’t “learned” the funniest word?

Most Popular Pencil Drawing

Whenever I put on an art show for my drawing students, it includes a popularity contest. Anyone who views the show may vote for his 3 favorite pieces. I do this because it causes visitors to spend more time studying the work. When folks say, “How am I supposed to decide?”, I respond with this: “Vote for the pieces that call you back”.

The piece that called the most viewers back was . . .

Kirby’s “Swan”!!

In addition to being the most popular, it sold! In addition to selling to one eager customer, there was another person waiting in the sidelines for the first buyer to change his mind! (And Kirby, it wasn’t a “mercy purchase” because he said it cost too much for that!!)

Congratulations, Kirby!!

Thoughts on Drawing Lessons


The show for my drawing students is still hanging in the workshop room of the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter. Their hours are Saturday and Sunday, 10-4. You can also stop by on Tuesday afternoons. They will be removing their pieces on November 29.

One of my more blunt straightforward students said something to the effect of “a room full of yous!” That was in response to me telling her how proud I felt of my students.

That is something that I struggle with a little bit. I want to teach people how to draw. I can only teach what I know. I only know how to draw like me.

Is that bad?

If I tell fail to tell them that my style is all I know and all I can teach, if I tell them other styles are wrong, then maybe it is bad.
I have to pay attention to several things – letting them pick their own subjects even if I don’t like their choices. Drawing a creepy heavy metal band doesn’t inspire me, but helping a student draw something she loves is very rewarding. I tell each person, “Pick something you love, because you’ll be looking at it for a very long time.”
If someone wants to work from a calendar, I have to explain about the copyright laws. Ultimately, I tell that student it is his choice but he needs to know that he cannot reproduce the work. It is very difficult to find good photos of one’s own unless one has been taking photos for awhile with drawing in mind.
Sometimes a student wants to copy someone else’s work. I explain that while it is easier in some ways, in others it is more difficult. I tell the reasons and let the student decide.
When a student brings in a photo he loves, instead of saying, “Sure, go for it”, sometimes I suggest we try different cropping to see if there is a simpler way to draw the subject. In this too, I back off and let the student decide what he likes best.
There are even times I have to tell them that their chosen subject is too hard. Sometimes it is too many steps beyond the student’s current skill. Sometimes it is too hard for me to demonstrate, and sometimes it is too hard for me to draw!

Often, I provide photos for those who have none. That really makes the subject matter look like my work!
As I view the show and contemplate my pride, I realize the joy is in their accomplishments, how great stuff looks in frames, and how great it looks as a group.
Mostly, I think about how much I enjoy them and the process of helping them learn to draw.

I also have to view the teaching of drawing as a beginning of their art education, not drawing as the final goal. It has always been my Main Event, but i know it isn’t like that for everyone, even those who love drawing as I do.