Nature Journal Update: Watercolor Sketching in Autumn

A warm November afternoon with the sun shining through the autumn leaves inspired me to grab my nature journal & watercolors and capture the scene with a sketch.  

Watercolor sketching, or simply painting without laying in a drawing first, is a great way to create a quick image of what you see -- like a gesture drawing.  You can react to the landscape in the moment and make a record of your experience in your nature journal.

I often find when I'm tired after a too-busy schedule that sitting still with my art supplies out in nature calms and centers me.  Tracing the wobbly sassafras limbs against brilliant foliage, washing in loose tree canopy shapes, I come away feeling more rested.  Focusing purely on exploring what I see in nature internalizes the peacefulness of nature.

I hope you get a chance to sit and create in nature soon!

Osher Figure Drawing Class with Model Amelia

 We started a new session of Osher Figure Drawing class last Friday morning, and Amelia brought us a wonderfully creative mix of poses.  

We started with 2-minute mass gestures, and I asked my students to use the side of their charcoal to capture shapes and masses within Amelia's body.  I find this approach keeps us from focusing merely on the outer contours, and more on the form. 

We moved on to 3-minute gestures, and used the extra minute to capture shadows and a few contour lines.

Changing gears, we took an abstract approach to Amelia's form, and selected 5 lines to capture the pose in just one minute.

There's a wonderful feeling of focusing, trying to express the whole figure in a minimum of lines, vacillating between descriptive contours and more structural or "summing up" lines, then stepping back to see what you created.  At first, it feels hard and unsuccessful, but then you start creating amazing expressions of universal human themes -- in this case, earthy femininity.

We moved on to a 15-minute standing pose.

And finished out the class with a 45 minute seated pose, with a break in the middle for Amelia to stretch.

It's good to be back to drawing with my students again.  

Many thanks to Amelia for keeping us inspired with her amazing, dynamic poses!

Art for Self Care: Autumn Colors!

 

After a busy modeling season, having an hour outdoors in nature to follow the twisted limbs of a sassafras grove with my pencil and brush brought me peace and joy.  

The yin & yang of intense activity followed by stillness and focus in nature invigorates me.  And, what a delight to fall into the brilliant colors of autumn.

Hoping you find time to sit in nature this week to fill your soul up with beauty!

Osher Figure Drawing Class with Kathryn & David

In our final class of the Osher autumn term, we were fortunate to have two skilled models working together.  Kathryn & David created beautiful 5-minute gesture poses to get us warmed up.  

I had told my students to follow their intuition in selecting a medium to use in this class, and I chose charcoal for the gestures and pastel for the long pose.

Kathryn & David used the gesture poses for expressive storytelling, and I invited my students to focus on the negative space between & around David & Kathryn to help simplify the complex shapes.  

I really enjoyed this approach; instead of seeing their two figures as independent structures, I could look at them as a whole composition and capture the flow and energy of the pose.

For the long pose, I used colored pastel paper (Canson Mi Teintes), and took a colorists approach, selecting a different color for each value in the composition.   After the isolation of the pandemic, I am drawn to using vibrant colors to express the vitality of the models I draw and my joy in being together in person.

Many thanks to Kathryn & David for their inspiration in this class, and their work throughout the pandemic to make our Osher classes an oasis in a time of isolation and difficulty.  Your creativity and hard work uplifted many artists.

Bravo!

Nature Journal Update: Shaggy Mane Mushroom

 

It's mushroom season! Recent rains have brought mushrooms popping up in the woods along our favorite trails.  Here's a pair of Shaggy Mane Inkcap mushrooms a fellow hiker pointed out to us last Friday.  What a delight to sit and sketch this gorgeous mushroom!

Osher Figure Drawing Class with Model Shannon

I had alerted my students that I planned to do some creative activities with color in Friday's class, and asked them to bring their pastels, chalks or other colorful media to the session.  

During the 3-minute gestures, I invited my students to begin drawing with a lighter color to make their first messy marks.  After a minute, we changed colors to a contrasting/darker hue, and captured our final contours and shadows. Our model Shannon held some uplifting 3-minute poses.

As we progressed, I added more colors to my palette, finishing with white for the highlights, fuchsia for the midtones, and blue for contours and shadows.  

I love using bright, contrasting colors to create drama in a drawing.

After we finished our gestures, we talked about methods for drawing the hands, and practiced with a 15-minute hand study.

We finished up with a long pose.  I took the colorists approach to my pastel drawing of Shannon, following the rule that you can use any color you like in a composition, as long as it is of the same value (light to dark) as the original color in the scene.  It felt freeing and energizing to create with bold colors, and I played with swoops and swirls in the negative space.

Many thanks to model Shannon for her strong poses and creative inspiration!

Pittsburgh Figure Drawing Meetup with Emily

David and I held a virtual open studio session, featuring guest model, Emily.  Here are my drawings from tonight's session. Many thanks to model Emily for her beautiful poses!

Two-minute gestures:

Five-minute gesture:

Ten-minute pose:

25-minute pose: