Art Class, Schmart Class (what you don't know until you try)

I always knew I had some natural talent with drawing and color work, and although I always felt it was just okay, I'd also never really had a class or teacher that taught me anything I didn't already know or ask me to produce something more. There didn't seem to be any challenge.

This post is dedicated to an art teacher I had for one quarter (9 weeks) of college who took everything we all thought we knew how to do at whatever drawing level we were at and shook it up, made us relearn and reassess and work to improve our skills: Maruta Kajaks-Grots. I still remember her telling me at the end of the class, "I really want to see you push the envelope just a little more."

I think of her words every time I'm working on a project. Still pushing, Maruta!

The overall theme of the class and the sketches that follow (now that I think back to it all) could be summed up as "learning to draw without lines" . . . I think by not using outlines you're forcing your brain to create an image without falling back on some established idea of "object" you've drawn a million times. THIS eye is not AN eye; THIS eye is THIS shadow, THIS arch, THIS negative space. This weekend I rediscovered my sketches from that class (I think most of these are in order), and I thought I would share while the new projects are being finished:

Lesson 1: Pre-class assignment. Draw anything, bring it in.


Lesson 2: Learning to draw form, cutting back on the "sketched lines" look. Sorry, this is a terrible photo--had the flash on. These are a grouping of shoes.


Lesson 3: Simple line drawing, still cutting back on all those sketched lines.


Lesson 4: Black and white rendition of mixed-paper crumples (I focused on the brown bag, can you tell?), aka drawing with shadows and highlights, practicing contrast values with messy/smearable media (conte).


Lesson 5: Pulling images out of charcoal using an eraser, aka creating an image by making highlights in shadow, more contrast values with messy media (vine charcoal). This Amorphous Blob is a napping black kitty on a black background. No, really--you can see the feet. LOL. The actual assignment used a photo of my sister, but it didn't hold up well during 'storage'. Oops.


Lesson 6: Getting into pencil, learning to draw without outlines. These were white styrofoam pieces with just a dark room and a spotlight. I still do the contrast and hardness practice on every pencil-work I do today, particularly with colored projects--if you got a framed piece from me, chances are there'll be a remnant of this shading practice on an edge somewhere under the mat.


Lesson 7: Egg on a white (curved-paper) background--hardest freaking thing I have ever done. Again, no outlines allowed, image was created using only pencil criss-crossing to define 'edges'. Phew!


Lesson 8: More white-on-white composition. And again, no outlines to define edges. (Look, Marsha, can you find the dental floss?)


Lesson 9: Final "exam" project: still-life composition of any variety using only pencil.


I was really proud of the final assignment when I did it, but I look at it now and I see how I should have 'pushed the envelope' a little more, spent more time refining the image, correcting flaws in uneven edges. I still keep it with the thought that someday I'll hang this up either in the studio or in the bathroom; not only is it a great reminder to myself that even natural talent needs to be honed with practice and perseverance, but that was also my favorite perfume from VS--smelled just like peaches--and I loved the frosted glass bottle with the bronze and vine detail! LOL!