Last day sketches 2014

I thought I would spend part of the day sketching the tree and some of the decorations around the house. I was interrupted doing the tree which I will return to.  The ribbon and cedar rope over the door was fun. It reminded me of the filigree on the decorations in palaces and castles, albeit just a bit on the simpler end of things.  It's nice just to explore your own world and make notes before they are forgotten. 

Next project will be out each window.

Last day of 2014 Amarylis study

Thought I would sketch some things around the house on this last day of 2014.

The role of gesture

One of the hardest things in teaching life drawing is convincing students of the value of gesture.  Gesture drawing has a lot of confusing meanings and uses, everything from just loosening up to much more.  The more can be defined as establishing the movement or pose of a subject or object as well as the proportions or character of the subject.  Think of it as quickly establishing the verb and subject - the 'what' and the 'who' in the very first moments of a drawing.

What is posted here is an exercise I did with both my Humber and Seneca College students in which we started with a 20 minute study of a skeleton. It was followed by 10, 5, 2 and 1 minute studies of the same skeleton. In each the focus would be to reduce the drawing to the essentials for the allowable time.

In the end the purpose was to show them that regardless of the length of time allowed, the drawings began the same way, but just allowing for more work to be done.

I suggest the same exercise for anyone wishing to understand what is truly essential for the start of any drawing, regardless of subject or time.