Nature Sketching Basics~10-4&5-08

That workshop last Saturday
was fun ~ and enlightening.

As is often the case, it was mostly women with a token male. This ratio is fairly typical in the "art workshop world." I don't know whether most men think art is "sissy" stuff, or they're just not open to their creative side, but it's really unfortunate that a huge percentage of guys out there aren't able, for whatever reason, to seize the opportunity to get in touch with their creative impulses. I greatly admire the men who manage to overcome the barrier. I don't think all cultures are this way, but our American culture sure is!

Remember to click on the images to see larger versions.

This was the first run of my new two-day beginning drawing class. On the first day, Saturday, I was moseying along and forgot to watch the clock. My students were only part of the way through their turkey feather drawing (imagine drawing a turkey feather on your very first day in drawing class ~ but oh the results and satisfaction!).

I reluctantly decided to let them take the feathers home to draw. This was really scary for me because I had collected those feathers from under wild turkey roosts on my hillside (here are a pair at left), but the turkeys don't roost there anymore. How would I replace them if they turn up missing?

But the students promised to care for them tenderly ~ and voila! The next morning they all returned with the feathers and the most incredible drawings of them, which they'd done the evening before. Here is Chris's feather ~ Chris is a newby artist ~ always wanted to draw but never got the chance. Nice work, huh?

But with this "timing faux pas" on my part, I realized that I was trying to cram too much into the days. So, that first evening while my students were drawing turkey feathers, I restructured the second day with fewer components, to go at an easier pace so they could get everything done the second day.

My students learn a whole lot of stuff in my workshops. I usher them along in increments, with each new skill building on what they have just learned.

On the second day, which was the Landscape part of of my new Sketching Basics format, they worked on building right-brain templates in the workbook (a duck this time) , drew sticks and Sequoia (Sierra redwood) cones (take a look at those cones!!!!), practiced foliage rendering techniques, learned some basic shading techniques, and practiced shading using a small purchased tortillon a larger one they created themselves.

Then, at the end they did the final assignment, to draw a landscape from a photograph. After graduating from this last assignment, they are ready to proceed to actual landscapes (or whatever they want to draw, actually), just by putting together all of the components they have learned in the class.

I forgot to take pictures the first day, and the second day one of my students, Sandy, couldn't come and another student, Helene, had to leave early. But I was snapping photos off and on all day whenever I saw someone progressing especially well. Lots of pictures (Kiah and Ann are hard at work on their landscapes here)! And although I have pictures from nearly everyone except Sandy, I somehow missed Kiah's landscape ~ sorry Kiah!!!So here are the rest of the photos of their work. [Yo, students: If I misattributed any pictures, please accept my apology.]

I am very pleased with not only their results but the success of the 2-day class format. And according to the evaluations (as usual, filled out carefully by each student for a chance to win a free copy of one of my books) it worked well.



That 2-day workshop was the first two days of my original Nature and Landscape Drawing class. In the past, it was a 3-day workshop, the third day being watercolor pencil. I have divided that 3-day workshop into two 2-day workshops, with the second workshop featuring more advanced pencil drawing techniques, then the watercolor pencil day. I'm eager to teach that second workshop, but so far I haven't had enough people sign up for it.

It's always hard to determine why people don't sign up for a class: it could be a poor title or description (I'm responsible for both) it could be that the topic has already used up the available interested people (Ashland is not a large community), or it could be the dismal state of the economy, with people saving their $$ for necessities.

I'm hoping enough people sign up for this one, though. It's exciting for me to slow down and allow the students more time to try things, even though I don't get to share as many cool ideas and techniques.

That workshop is scheduled for the weekend of October 25-26. Hope you can come!

Nature Journaling & Sketching ~ October 3, 2008

My Guilt Index is off the charts. The last time I wrote, on August 25, I was getting ready to promote my workshops, create a "pitch" letter to persuade workshop organizers that they need my workshops, and start sending them out. And here it is October 3 and I haven't written a bloggy word for over a month! Wha' hoppened!

Well, for one thing, The Southern Swamp Explorer is now Hot Off the Press and I've been filling and shipping out pre-orders all week. The rest of the month between the last blog and now, I've been crafting my workshop promotion scheme and creating my two new workshops (a re-do of my Nature Sketching Workshop ~ see below). And in honor of the Book Coming Out, Daniel took me to the theater, for which we dressed to the teeth just for fun (that's us at right)(no, I am not a midget, Daniel is 6'4"). Remember to click on images to see a bigger picture!

And in that time, I actually did what I planned, and I'm very pleased with my first efforts. Here's the remake of my workshop webpage with lead-ins to the information sheets I made up (just click on "more about this workshop" under each heading). They're colorful with artwork, with enough description to pique interest, etc. In the packet along with this two-page sheaf, I send my business card, my Irene Brady brochure, an example of a customized workshop in case my format doesn't exactly fit their needs, and a cover letter. I've sent out about eight of them now.

A week after sending them, I send followup letters asking if they received it and offering a link to my workshop webpage and another link to the workshop descriptions I've sent so they can download more in case they want to run a workshop past their board. I have gotten responses from nearly all the people I sent them too, with assurances that they are interested and they will keep me in mind.

That means little, natch, until someone actually engages you, though. And even THAT doesn't always work out. You may remember that I was all charged up about my upcoming workshop at The Oregon Trails Interpretive Center? Unfortunately, (and not their fault) their promotional campaign fell through when the people that were doing the promotion had to close down their operation and took down the webpage where people were supposed to sign up for the workshop..... But our contract said that if the workshop were to be cancelled, it was to be rescheduled within the coming year. So although I'm not going to be doing that workshop next week ~ darn ~ I will do it later on, as soon as we can set a date.

In the meantime, I've totally re-vamped my 3-day Nature Sketching workshop into two 2-day workshops: "Nature Sketching Basics/Natural Landscape Basics," and "Nature Sketching Details/Nature Sketching With Color." I'll be teaching the first run of this new Basic class this weekend (starting tomorrow), and the first run of the more advanced Detail class on October 25-26.

Last weekend I taught a Journaling Workshop at the Siskiyou Field Institute, utilizing their amazing Darlingtonia(carnivorous pitcher plants!) fen. That's a fen at left.
SFI is a great organization which supports and presents all kinds of art, nature and science oriented classes and workshops, mostly centered on the Siskiyou Bioregion (this is the area between Grants Pass, Oregon, and the Pacific Coast. If you'd like to learn a bit about it, you can read up on it at the Siskiyou Field Institute website.

We had the class in the main classroom, and shared conversation, laughs and space in the kitchen while we prepared our own meals; and slept in tents, bedrooms in the main building, or bunks in the yurt (I stayed in the yurt, and it was a delight).

While this workshop was similar to my other journaling workshops, instead of learning how to paint an apple or gourd with watercolor pencils, we drew and colored pitcher plants, Darlingtonia californica, also called Cobra Lilies. Some of the drawings/paintings turned out really excellent ~ and we all had a great time.

It is at the very end of the season for the plants. They've gathered up all their nutrients for the year and many have already dried, crumpled and faded to cinnamon red or brown, so the institute had no qualms about bringing a few about-to-fold specimens inside for us to draw.

I went out with the students to visit the fen the first afternoon (I've been there before, to take pictures for the students to use in class) and when they sat right down and started sketching, I gave advice here and there, but mostly left them to experience the wonderful ambience and journal about it.

I generally don't take the students out in the field during workshops. Students tend to spread out to find a good scene to sketch, so if I help one student, the others don't get the benefit of the teaching. So I taught in the classroom from 9:30 to 2:30, then they sketched in the afternoons, between 2:30 and 7:30 ~ plenty of time. And were they ever intense! One evening when I went through the classroom at 9:30pm, several were still hard at work working on their journals! Wow!

Here are some classroom scenes, with most of my ten students (one had to leave early). Lynn, below right, is experimenting with some "fun fonts" which I designed expressly to jazz up workshop pages. Kristi, below left, is preparing to add a yellow wash to her cobra lily drawing. The first steps are the most daunting, then it's just fun.

As usual, there wasn't enough time to really finish the watercolor pencil paintings (that could take DAYS), but being able to take home the color photo printouts (from photos I'd taken on the earlier visit) was a big bonus, allowing the students the possibility of improving and finishing the painting after the workshop was over.

But even with the time limitations, there were a number of beautiful paintings created, and other works that showcased beginning students' remarkable progress over a three day period.

While I've mostly shown artwork here, we actually spent about a third of the time working with writing, poetry, haiku, and lettering, plus experiments with "ephemera," things one glues or tapes onto a page. You can see Karin's example, below, of a journalist's trick to rescue a good painting on a "bad" page by simply cutting it out and gluing it on another page where you can do what you want with it.

Andrew, at right, discovered how effective bright, vibrant colors can be in a composition. As usual, I'm putting up a "rogue's gallery" of the students' work ~ they chose what they wanted to display. My students ran the gamut from a beginner's "I don't know if I can draw anyting" to a more advanced student who said "I draw pretty well but I want to improve and to learn about the watercolor pencils."














I'm just barely getting this page up in time since I have another class starting tomorrow! Whoosh! Time flashes through like a bolt of lightning!

If you click on an image, you can see it larger, and if you right-click on the image, you will see the students' first names, with their permission, of course.

Tomorrow morning I begin a new workshop, with, if I remember correctly, eight students. I can hardly wait!

Back to Work on Workshops! ~ August 25, 2008

The biggest problem with workshops, I have found, is promoting them. Shouldn't it be possible to have an online matching service for people who like to promote and people who have something to promote, sort of like a dating service?

There could be a side bar with sample agreement forms, from simple to complex, maybe with open boxes where you could fill in your particular item or terms. And profiles, of course, so one could see what the potential "partner" was like and whether they could do what you need.

Hmmmm.....I see a big opportunity for SOMEbody here-- maybe even a moneymaker if you were smart. If you happen to be that somebody who starts the business, would you please send me a notification when you get it all sorted out so I can join?

I've returned from Idaho (500 or so miles across the Oregon High Desert) with lots accomplished with regard to both workshops and my book The Southern Swamp Explorer. On my way over, I passed through the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and had the brainstorm while I was there that the curators might like to have a field sketching workshop for their people. So I'm in contact with them now about that and who knows how it will shape up.

Sarah, the director at The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center where I will give a workshop in October, is easy to work with, and I think we're both on the same track about the workshop. She took me into the archives to photograph old items we might like to sketch, and answered my questions about the emigrants (for instance, do you know what "saleratus" is? A lot of the diaries written by emigrants mention saleratus).

Sarah also gave me directions to one of the few places you can still see the actual tracks of the Oregon Trail on my way to my brother's. It was sort a holy grail place to me, and I walked along it a ways, thinking covered-wagon-linsey-woolsey-oxen sorts of thoughts. Here's a picture of it. Would you believe the distance between the tracks -- hence, the width of a covered wagon -- is only about four feet, roughly the distance between the wheels of a 4-wheeler (I know, because we use these in the native plant nursery where I work)?

When I arrived at my brother David's place in Idaho, the press proof for The Southern Swamp Explorer was waiting for me to check. David helped me for one whole evening (what a trooper!) and I spent the next 2 days working on it, making the changes, and (with David's help, since some of the fonts were giving me fits on this different computer) burning a new DVD. With all the illustrations, it had to be burned to a capacious DVD since it wouldn't fit on a CD. And on Saturday we sent it off FedEx, overnight, which meant it would arrive during business hours on Monday. Cost me some $56 for about 2lbs. Yikes! The big hurry was so that my print job wouldn't lose its place in the queue and get further delayed. Still, $56........!

THEN I could relax for a few days and just have fun. I started back on Wednesday at 8am, and hit both the Four Rivers Cultural Center and High Desert Museum, leaving my card and a workshop workbook so that they would have something to look at when I contact them later with a proposal for a workshop. I'll be putting together the rough draft of the proposal today, I hope.

Coming back across the Oregon High Desert, (a quick aside here: I'd say about 80% of my route from my home in southern Oregon to western Idaho is through rough country where there is no cellphone reception. I carry the cellphone, but it's mostly for looks.) about twenty miles out of Bend, my cellphone rang -- gasp -- what's that sound! It was the print company doing my swamp book telling me that they'd sent the corrected pages back to me email (at home) and that they'd need them at 8am sharp (Central Daylight Time -- I'm on Pacific Daylight Time) the next morning to continue to keep my spot in the queue. Well, I was delighted that 1) they actually were able to reach me and 2) that they warned me, because I might not have checked my email when I got home.

But that also meant that after twelve hours and 500+ miles on the road, tired and a bit groggy, I had to sit at the computer with an actively engaged brain (yeah, sure) and recheck the pages they sent to make sure all was copacetic, and then email them back that night so they'd have them the next morning. But NOW, I'm DONE with the book, there's nothing else I CAN DO with the book. Sure feels funny! By the way, I upgraded The Southern Swamp Explorer page with a peek inside the book if you'd like to look. Let me know if you think it helps!

And as for promoting the workshops, I now need to telephone or email the places I left workbooks during my trip and make my pitch. I'm awful on the phone. I hate telephoning (talk about being out of step with today's world!) and I have to force myself to follow through with a phone call.

By the way, I spent yesterday spiffing up my Upcoming Workshops webpage because if I'm about to start promoting my workshops seriously I want the webpage to look upscale so that people will know what happens in the workshops and feel comfortable contacting me about scheduling one.

I hope you'll go take a look (I added lots of graphics) because I need some feedback about whether I was successful in improving it, and also I need to know if anything is off the mark or if something else (or more of something) is needed. Also, I need to know how long it now takes it to come up on your screen, because of all the images. Please go see it and get back to me about what you see. I need you!

Where the heck is that person that wants to promote my workshops?

In the next few days, I'll be inventing my pitch for the workshop. I need something I can send along with my business card and a sample workbook to convince people that they need me to come give my workshop either to their people or to people they promote it to. When I get something together, I'll post it.

In the meantime, I hope you will check out my Upcoming Workshop page. It would be greatly helpful to get your reaction/opinion, and I'd really appreciate it!

p.s. Saleratus is a natural soda formed in drying alkali lakes, and the emigrants picked up chunks to use in their baking on the trail (and afterward, too, I expect).

Costa Rica Sketch Journal ~ July 16-17, 2008

With just a little time left, we tried to be philosophical. Our plane was to leave mid-morning, so there was time for Gerardo-the-driver to take us in the lodge Land Rover to Puerto Jimenez a little bit early to see the town.

After eating breakfast, I went out to find my last "gift" from El Remanso, and discovered this lovely, lacy mushroom right at the edge of the restaurant entrance. Fair enough!

Then it was time to say goodby to all the good people there, and Gerardo and Dan talked at great length about seedlings and compost because Gerardo is preparing a photo/description listing of all the plants and trees found at El Remanso. He plans to collect seeds and raise seedlings to reforest surrounding areas and to plant where needed. It is an awesome project, and Dan wanted to make sure Gerardo's seedlings would have the best chance to survive. Since Dan started Plant Oregon native plant nursery many years ago (and still owns and runs it), he has a lot of expertise in that area. We also said goodbye to Maekal (in the photo), who waited on tables with grace, skill and humor during our stay.

Then we hugged Adri and Danni goodbye and it was time for Gerardo the driver to take us to our plane. It had rained quite a deluge the night before, and we had to ford several streams, one with water up to the runningboards on the Land Rover.

As always, I was much taken by the cattle, and Gerardo stopped at one place so I could jump out and take photographs. Gerardo the naturalist had said the Ticos call these cows "Jerseys," but I can't think of anything less Jersey-like (real Jerseys ~ the ones from the Isle of Jersey ~ are colored like deer, have dark soulful eyes, and are about 2/3 the size of these honkers! This is a former farm girl speekin, and I know whereof I speek!).

However, these cows thought I was the one who looked pretty funny ~ you can tell by the expression on their faces....

At length, we made it to Puerto Jimenez, and Gerardo took us out to the Parrot Bay sanctuary, an inlet in the mangroves, open to the ocean. I had no idea there were crocodiles there. Be sure to look at this image close-up if you wanna see a real corker of a crocodile "smile." By the way, in my book The Southern Swamp Explorer (it's being set up to print as we speak ~ I'll receive a copy to proof next week!) I have written a little ditty to help one distinguish between crocodiles and alligators. Here's how:

A 'gator's nose is short and wide,
and hides the lower teeth inside.
The skinny nose of a crocodile
lets teeth poke up outside its smile.

Dan and I snapped photos of the croc (that's Dan's photo above) and some smaller caimans ( a type of alligator) and the egrets in the cattle egret rookery, and I briefly saw a boat-billed heron (yes!). But by now, it was time for our plane to leave, so Gerardo toted us back to the airport to catch our plane.

I snapped a picture of Pto. Jimenez and the mangrove swamps just after we left the ground. I think Parrot Bay may be at the end of that little finger of water entering the mangroves at right.

The little Nature Air planes are great fun, and fly low (unlike Sansa flights, which fly WAY up high), and we had great views nearly the entire way.

The rest of our flight was the epitome of what you wish flights weren't ~ long, sleepless, cramped, blah, blah...although there were a few light moments ~ see the pilot washing his windshield at right and the cigar-maker plying his trade in the San Jose airport.

I was too tired (and blue) to sketch, and at 26 hours, the flight was a tad too long.....(read the journal page for more gory details). But Dan'l and I managed to not get too cranky, at least not with each other, and it went as well as could be expected, although it took me a full week to recover after we got home.

And in the end, this final photo which Dan took just before our waterfall visit encompasses my memories of this lovely trip, so the icky ending didn't have any permanent effect.

So there you have it. By the way, I'm going to visit the director at The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center next week to line out just how we want to run the workshop I'm doing for them in October. When I have a plan, I will blog about its construction. If you want to be notified when I start, be sure to click the box in the right column that sends you a notice when I blog. It's a lot easier than trying to remember (then to find the blog address) to come and check.

Later!