Drawing classes

Where we have moved is some what more remote then where we lived in the NT. I'm at least lucky in that I know a few local people and they have given me the heads up on a local art studio/gallery that does lessons!. It's called DAB or Douglas Arts Base and its in Mossman just down the mountain range from us.We had a fair bit of rain up here and the mosquitoes were hammering me every time I tried to do jewellery making in the garage so I joined DAB and now I am doing an introduction class to drawing and painting for five weeks on a Saturday. I'm once again finding that when I draw some things look OK and at other times its terrible LOL. It's perspective I have the most trouble with.

We at first did freeing up exercises like drawing continuously while looking up at subject not at the page and not lifting the pencil up....that I could do OK. Then we tried drawing with the image upside down. I was given a sketch of a man sitting on a chair drawn cartoon like but he was upside down...now this was intriguing....I had read about this before but never tried it myself. So I gave it ago and started at the bottom of my page (with the upside down head) and drew upwards. When I was done I turned it right way up and too my shock the features actually looked quite realistically to the original BUT as I drew what I drew got bigger so he had a small head and long large body. I had concentrated so much on shapes that I forgot perspective!

At the end of class the teacher spied an old drawing of mine in the back of my sketch book so she handed me a vintage image of a lady in black and white and told me to sketch that for my home work! OMG it scared me just looking at it as it had lots of shaded areas as she had her head draped in a cloth. I took it home on Saturday and every day I looked at the image several times just too scared to even try to draw it. By Thursday I still hadn't started but I just thought "go for it....if it doesn't work out tear the page out". I did a light out line at first and then drew the face....My attempt is at left and the real thing at right....

I spent hours just getting that part done. Then I worked on it for hours each day till Saturday came around again and I had to take it to class and show the teacher. I went from one area to another working my way around the face. At the end I was quite astonished as this was one of the times I actually drew with a good end result! I just wish every time I drew I could get this sort of result. The teacher was impressed and in fact at first didn't believe I had drawn it *grin* 

Today I spied the drawing in my art room and again thought I had seen this on one of my rubber stamps so I had a look and sure enough I had the stamp :). It was a Judikins ?angel stamp...how funny

As I can't get much jewellery making done I did do some paper crafting stuff. I've almost put together a craft holder lazy Susan thing from Kaiser that I'll show you another day plus this card made of Opals embossing enamel tiles, fantasy and Angelina film, stamps and charms.

This Saturday in class we are going to try simple landscape paintings....feeling nervous about that one and I do suspect mine will be an abstract landscape in the end LOL. I'm enjoying being creative again indeed regardless of whether it ends up good bad or ugly.

hugs

Annette In Oz