Nature Sketching Workshop - 6-21&22&28-08

Time is scudding past! I finished my final June Nature Sketching class last weekend, and it couldn't have been more fun or rewarding. Here are my students, working on a critique.

As I mentioned last entry, it was one of my more age-varied classes, from Gene, who is twelve, to us older folk, in our 60s, with teenagers added in for good measure -- and it was a good measure. All of my students were hard workers and emerged magically at the end as artists, (although some already had some expertise when they arrived).

I got so involved with the process I forgot to take pictures until nearly the end of the first day when everyone was involved in drawing their turkey feathers and I had a chance to stop and breathe.

The second day was all about landscapes, and one of the projects was drawing sticks. This seems like such a ridiculous project until you start to draw, then the most marvelous things happen -- such as "a stick" becomes a particular individual stick, with fascinating curves, protruberances, cracks, and swirls. The students became well acquainted with their sticks, and their results were remarkably lifelike. They also practiced textures used for leaves, grasses, rocks, and other things that make up a landscape.

And, moving on to how to interpret a scene, everyone chose a photo (from a large assortment) to try to translate what they had been studying and practicing into a drawing. This was also their homework (although optional), and while a lot of the drawing was done in class, a number of the students worked on it during the week and here are their results:



I was impressed with their progress. We didn't spend a lot of time on shading in class, so their efforts in that direction were quite entrepreneurial (did I spell that right?)
After the critique, I demonstrated for each student (on request) how to get the results they wanted for various areas of their individual drawings.


This third day the focus was on watercolor pencils, so we worked awhile on the color wheel, then did a "coloring book" exercise on an orchid outline. This is a useful exercise for a beginning watercolor pencil student because they won't be afraid of messing up their own drawing with color if they're using a predrawn outline.

Then it was on to the final project of the day, drawing an apple and coloring it. In this workshop I didn't sit down much, and I didn't draw and color my own apple as I did in the last class with only three students. I needed that time to coach and help my eight (well, seven, since one of my younger students could only attend the first two classes) students. So here are most of them with their apples, then the apples close-




up in the same order. The second one from the right is Kate's, who isn't in a photo. Chris wasn't at the third session:





and here are their extremely edible-looking results! Yum, huh? Be sure to click for a close-up look.

At the end of the workshop, as always, I handed around an evaluation sheet. This one was special because in addition to their opinions and experiences of the class I asked the students questions about how they would feel about this 3-day workshop being split into two separate 2-day workshops: Beginning Nature and Landscape Sketching, and Advanced Nature Sketching and Watercolor Pencil.

The response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. I'm still scheduled to do this version of the class a couple more times, but as it happens, both workshops have been stretched into 4-day workshops, so the effect will be the same. The split-up two-day format will fit weekend attendees better than a 4-day combined workshop would, so it should work okay. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.

This week was pretty crazy, because in addition to the class, I received my 25 Advance Reading Copies (also called Advance Review Copies or ARCs) from the printer, wrote up the incredibly detailed information sheet that has to go with it, stuffed them into padded envelopes, and shipped them off to reviewers and important people that have offered to write blurbs for the back cover. It was a lengthier process by a magnitude of ten than it sounds, and I am really frazzled.

In addition, I have been working on my brand-new garden, planted in tree pots in a clearing in the manzanita on the hillside south of my house. Wanna see? Here's what it looked like on the 20th of June.

I got to eat that reddest strawberry in the photo, the first one I ever grew, but a wild turkey got the other two just as they ripened (DANG!), having flown in over the fence. However, I gave it quite a fright and it may not come back (HA! you say?)

That picture was taken June 20. However, you may have noticed that it's three days into July already, so by now my garden is WAY junglier, and I don't have a picture of it yet because, speaking of jungles, I have been preparing to go to Costa Rica (leaving noon tomorrow!), too.

Alas, I had to cancel the workshop I had scheduled there for July 7-10. I got a few queries, and one student was even about to sign up, but on reflection she decided she couldn't afford the air fare. I'm wondering how much the sky-high ticket prices deterred would-be workshop attendees. I got my ticket way back in March, when it was $700+, but I think now they are MUCH higher than that.

Daniel and I are going anyway, workshop or not. I will take my sketchbook, as usual, and sketch what I see on my journey. I'll be back on the 17th or so, and I'll require a couple of days to decompress, then I'll try to start getting some of the journal/sketchbook page up on this blog.

Thanks for sticking around! When I return, after I put up my journal and sketches, I will start working on the History and Nature Sketching workshop for the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, trying to keep a running account of what's transpiring. I've already ordered about 6 books of pioneer diaries and accounts from Amazon to research what the travelers on the Trail experienced. I've already received some of the books, so maybe I'll take a couple to read in my hammock in C.R. Sure.....

In the meantime, you have a lovely summer, don't inhale too much smoke from forest fires if you're on the west coast (like me), and stay cool.

Big hugs,
Irene

Watercolor Pencil Apples

On three weekends in July and August (3 sessions), I had a remarkable group of workshop students. They looked rather ordinary and most of them claimed that they didn't have a clue about drawing, but by the time we had finished the workshop, all six women had convinced me that they were extraordinary.

There were only six of them -- in the summer it can be hard to fill classes here because we have a rather small area to draw from ('scuse the pun!) and I've given this workshop here several times already.

But the enthusiasm was high and they jumped right into the right-brain drawing exercises with gusto. Elise had taken the class before, and I hoped she wouldn't find it repetitive, but she reassured me that it was excellent practice for her, so I stopped worrying about it.

By the second session, they were gaining confidence, and the critiques were of great interest, with everyone learning from each other. In the picture at the top, each has drawn a gnarly stick, first with the stick in front of them, then immediately after, a drawing of it from memory -- the results of which caused considerable amusement.

The apples were daunting at first, but we took it step by step, and soon the ghosts of apples were appearing on the paper as they first laid down a yellow wash, wet it then dried it, then started applying the various reds, purples, greens and yellows close examination revealed on those supposedly red apples. At left below, pencil is scribbled on -- below right, water is painted over the pencil, and the watercolor pencil marks blend and spread into what looks very much like a watercolor painting. More pencil and more water can be applied until the desired intensity is reached, although too many washes may buckle the paper.

Click pictures for a bigger view

Soon, the drawings were looking good enough to eat, and the ladies were rightly pleased with their results.
Below is each student with her masterpiece.

In order of appearance, the apple artists are: Carol C., Elise L., Leslie L., Marta D. and Mary Lou L., They all gave me permission to include them here. Cathleen K., who is in the center of the critique photo at top, couldn't make it to the third session, but I'm positive her apple would have been as high quality as the rest.






Here are the apples close-up -- click on the picture to see them even better.

My next "Nature Drawing with Irene" workshop

My July workshop is almost upon me, and yesterday I stopped by the North Mountain Park Nature Center, which is sponsoring this workshop, to make sure all my ducks were in a row. They appear to be.

This workshop, "Nature Drawing with Irene Brady" will be held at a classroom in The Grove, which is near Ashland's (Oregon) City Hall. I've not taught there before, so I don't know what the ambience will be like, but hey, I expect we'll all be so busy we won't notice.

The cost for the 3-day class [9:30-2:30 on Saturdays, July 21 (Sketching Techniques), July 28 (Landscape Techniques), and August 4, (Watercolor Pencil Techniques)] is $95, and I provide all the tools and supplies, and a set of three workbooks (one for each class) with extra sketching pages and lots of tips and exercises so that students not only have something to take home from the workshop but something to work from later to continue their sketching education.

The workbooks are popular and I've even had people contact me online to ask if they could purchase just the books. At the moment I'm only using them in the class -- but later I might put them together into a combined book for aspiring nature artists.

But back to the workshop....I just checked out a great idea I had with the nature center and they agreed to let me invite just the people who have taken my classes previously to drop in for single refresher sessions of the workshop at $35 each. For instance, someone might like to attend just the second class, Landscape Techniques if that is the only aspect they'd like to brush up on. Provided there is room in the class, they can just appear and pay at the door (however, I'd suggest they contact me by phone or email to confirm a spot before the day of the class -- there's a link in the panel at right, and you can learn more about the class here).

We haven't tried this before, so it remains to be seen if there will be interest in such a plan. Of course, if the class fills up completely, it won't work. But sometimes I get a dropout, so a spot could open up even then.

I love teaching this class. It is always exciting to me to see "I-can't-draw-a-straight-line" people realize they CAN draw, and watch them, by the 3rd session, shading and coloring their very presentable drawings with great satisfaction. Just as exciting, though, is to see artists who have been drawing or painting for a long time markedly improve their ability to draw more accurately what they see. And I love it when I have all kinds in the class -- they are an inspiration to each other and to me, too.

I've been getting some email feedback on my last blog about the Sketch/Journaling Workshop plan I posted. In the next blog I'll discuss what has come in. If you'd like to be part of the discussion, read the previous blog (below) and send me a comment or email about your reaction to the proposed workshop. I'd really appreciate your input.