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Pastels - Class #1
May. 19th, 2004 02:44 pmI arrived at class just a little late...normally at 10:00 AM I'm still in bed, having gotten only about 4-6 hours of sleep so far. Being at class at 10:00 AM is a bit of a transition. Anyway, I wasn't the last one to arrive, so I didn't have to feel too guilty. There are a few familiar faces - two people from the drawing class that I took, and the the director of the art center. It was odd to see her taking a class, but I gather that she doesn't get to work on much art unless she has a formal class, since more of her time ends up going into running the center.
There was a great deal of pastel chalk sitting on the table for those of us who don't have as much, or possibly in case someone didn't have any. The instructor was trying to find the best place to put a bowl of lemons for us to draw. We finally had to settle for the center of the table, since we couldn't all fit on one side of the table. This meant she couldn't put a piece of fabric behind it, so we were forced to imagine a backdrop for it instead.
First we were supposed to sketch the lemons. I didn't bring my sketchpad, but someone was kind enough to give me a piece of paper from theirs. I was still working on sketching when the instructor told me that I'd sketched enough, and should move on to the actual pastels. I was still trying to make sure I knew where things were in relation to one another, how big the lemons were, and where the edges of the bowl were in relation to everything else. Aw, well.
I hit some stumbling points while working on the "painting" (I guess they still call them paintings, even though they're not made of paint), but the instructor offered tips and suggestions without being too pushy about any of them. Even better, she would actually tell us if we did something she thought was a bad idea, and she pointed out things that weren't working - praise starts to sound empty and hollow if it's all you ever get, after all. Since it was obvious that she would tell us if we did something "wrong," we knew she was being honest when she said we did something "right."
I think my finished piece is incredibly dull. For one thing, I forgot to put in the lemon that was next to the bowl, which I think would really help the composition. I also drew everything too small, so I have way too much empty space on my paper. Finally, the right side of my bowl looks sort of warped. Aside from that, I think it went pretty well. The lemons look pretty much like lemons, and I like how some of my color blending came out.
It was interesting to see the pieces created by some other people in the class. The best one didn't really look like the bowl of fruit we had at all, but looked much prettier. It had all kinds of dark colors and high contrast that weren't really there in the bowl of fruit. I think I was trying too hard to draw what I saw, although I did exaggerate some colors and shading to make things stand out and look more interesting - just not on the scale that the other student did.
Next week we're supposed to bring our own subject to draw, though we're still sort of encouraged to go for plants or more fruit. She asked if I had any plants, and I said that I had several cacti. She thinks that would be great, so now I'm trying to decide which plant would be the most fun and interesting to draw. It's tempting to bring Zeb, but I think I'd worry about something happening to him moving back and forth to the school.
There was a great deal of pastel chalk sitting on the table for those of us who don't have as much, or possibly in case someone didn't have any. The instructor was trying to find the best place to put a bowl of lemons for us to draw. We finally had to settle for the center of the table, since we couldn't all fit on one side of the table. This meant she couldn't put a piece of fabric behind it, so we were forced to imagine a backdrop for it instead.
First we were supposed to sketch the lemons. I didn't bring my sketchpad, but someone was kind enough to give me a piece of paper from theirs. I was still working on sketching when the instructor told me that I'd sketched enough, and should move on to the actual pastels. I was still trying to make sure I knew where things were in relation to one another, how big the lemons were, and where the edges of the bowl were in relation to everything else. Aw, well.
I hit some stumbling points while working on the "painting" (I guess they still call them paintings, even though they're not made of paint), but the instructor offered tips and suggestions without being too pushy about any of them. Even better, she would actually tell us if we did something she thought was a bad idea, and she pointed out things that weren't working - praise starts to sound empty and hollow if it's all you ever get, after all. Since it was obvious that she would tell us if we did something "wrong," we knew she was being honest when she said we did something "right."
I think my finished piece is incredibly dull. For one thing, I forgot to put in the lemon that was next to the bowl, which I think would really help the composition. I also drew everything too small, so I have way too much empty space on my paper. Finally, the right side of my bowl looks sort of warped. Aside from that, I think it went pretty well. The lemons look pretty much like lemons, and I like how some of my color blending came out.
It was interesting to see the pieces created by some other people in the class. The best one didn't really look like the bowl of fruit we had at all, but looked much prettier. It had all kinds of dark colors and high contrast that weren't really there in the bowl of fruit. I think I was trying too hard to draw what I saw, although I did exaggerate some colors and shading to make things stand out and look more interesting - just not on the scale that the other student did.
Next week we're supposed to bring our own subject to draw, though we're still sort of encouraged to go for plants or more fruit. She asked if I had any plants, and I said that I had several cacti. She thinks that would be great, so now I'm trying to decide which plant would be the most fun and interesting to draw. It's tempting to bring Zeb, but I think I'd worry about something happening to him moving back and forth to the school.
