A Bonus for Our Sketching Class

     Our sketching class enjoyed the bonus of a guest teacher in our third session. The change in plans occurred because Charleston, SC artist Margaret (Maggie) Hoybach came to visit our regular teacher, Mary Ann Miller and offered to lead a class. Mary Ann generously invited us to her lovely home for the class, followed by a Provence-style lunch (yummy homemade quiche). You can see other images from that third class as well as our fourth and final class on Mary Ann's blog, too. (I was not able to be in her February class, so scroll down to find the two final January gatherings.)
     
     Maggie, in the red sweater, first showed us some of her gorgeous watercolor paintings and travel sketch/scrap books (which are amazing works of art in themselves). You can treat yourself to Maggie's website here. Then, she provided an interesting and very challenging exercise. Projecting various scenes for just a minute or so, she told us to outline a sketch in pencil and jot down a few notes so that we could further develop the drawing later. We imagined ourselves traveling, perhaps by bus, with limited time to capture an impression of each passing scene. Her method is to quickly place the major lines for the portion of the scene she has chosen to draw: the horizon, a path, building, large tree, or whatever. Then, we were to make a few notes of dominant colors and to indicate values with numbers in the margin (from lightest to darkest: 1 to 5). Since we were using pencil (unlike our other classes, where we sketched in pen), we could later adjust the composition and sketch in other remembered elements. She projected 7 or 8 images for us to outline; than we returned to our tables to revise and color (with watercolor paints) any images we wanted to develop further.


     This could be something fun to try in future travels, and was another helpful way for me to continue practicing drawing. I am still a beginner, but have improved over these helpful lessons. I'll try not to apologize for the efforts I am showing you today. As always, you can click on any photo to see it full size.

     The entire experience at Mary Ann's home (or, La Chambre Jaune Cafe, as she calls her sun room) was delightful. The setting, decorated in the characteristic blue and yellow of Provence in France; the delicious lunch; the shared expertise of our two accomplished artist/teachers; and the lively company of fellow sketchers (many of whom create masterful pictures, quite out of my league)--all of it added up to a day to remember.

     Since I don't plan a separate post on our fourth and final class, I'll throw in a small caricature style sketch from that session. Mary Ann encouraged us to try drawing people--not in any detail or as portraits--but simply to be able to indicate the presence of others in our work. So, I doodled a fellow student immersed in her sketching.

Question of the day: In what small way have you stretched yourself lately?

Sketching Classes--Helpful and Humbling

Some of us at Mimi's (with our amazing server, Shaniqua). That's me, front right.

     I just completed the fourth in a series of sketching classes with children's book illustrator and travel sketchbook author, Mary Ann Miller. Mary Ann is a delightful, encouraging teacher who requires her students to sketch in (gasp!) pen. Even though I have been creating landscape paintings for several years, I know that my drawing skills are very limited and had planned to take a class sometime. I occasionally draw in grey tone pencil or colored pencils, often landscapes or individual elements, such as a particular tree. Small sketches are also invaluable in my planning for any painting to establish a good composition and an effective tonal balance (darks and lights). However, those sketches do not need much development; they are not meant to stand alone (one example, here).

Teacher extraordinaire, Mary Ann Miller, in the plaid.

     So, when I attended a fascinating book talk by Mary Ann Miller and saw her published travel sketchbooks (she travels often and fills a sketchbook on each trip), I knew I had found an excellent teacher. Mary Ann usually sketches with pen and water color; you can see her travel books here. The reason for her insistence that students use pen also is that pencil and eraser enable the student to draw with little forethought or planning (using a pen encourages thoughtfulness) and/or to become fussy trying to perfect a drawing with erasures and corrections. The fussy approach kills the spontaneity and liveliness of sketching. Given my limited skills, using a pen was intimidating. I had to remind myself that the learning process was what mattered and that any "failed" attempts only meant I had learned something, then turn the page and try again.

     We met on four Wednesday mornings from 10 - 12 (plus lunch together if we wished) in a different cafe each week and practiced sketching the objects and people around us. Students often sketched their breakfast, lunch, or beverage, but it is surprising how many other good practice subjects were right around us in each location. 

     These photos show the results of my work in our second class, at a Mimi's cafe nearby. Mary Ann travels with a small blue plastic vase so that she can keep a fresh flower or two in her room or even on her table at an outdoor cafe. The vase makes an appearance in many of her sketches, and several came to each class for our use. For Mary Ann's photos from these classes, see her blog (scroll down past the wonderful photos from a recent opening of their travel art group for the first two classes of our group). My first, small sketch from Mimi's followed Mary Ann's suggestion to include something that sets the piece in the place it was made--here, a Mimi's menu under a few objects. 

     The second, larger sketch shows some decorative pieces on a shelf at the cafe. You can see I took the liberty of moving the messy wine rack out and added another object from nearby in its place as well as "resizing" the urn for more variety. Given that I have never used water colors as an adult, I practiced at home after our session before adding some simple color to the first sketch. The second is still awaiting color, unless I decide to leave it as is. When I asked Mary Ann's advice about the matter this past session, her suggestion--pure genius, I think--was to make a copy of the sketch on art paper (which will fit in our copier) and to try out some color ideas on a copy or two. Will definitely do that.
Question of the day: Do you put yourself "out there" to try new activities and to attempt to learn new skills even if (like me) you hate the feeling of incompetence in the beginning stages of learning?