Making Art a Practice
Online Class with Cat Bennettvia www.carlasonheim.com
Week 2
Greetings at the Facebook Class Group
Monday Evening: New video and class tomorrow!!
Hi, everyone! What a great week! I've loved seeing everything and getting to know you through your work! I'm really inspired by all you are doing!
Tomorrow we start drawing from nature. Carla will post the video tonight. It includes three ways of practicing. Some of you will have experience already with drawing like this and some are newer to making observational drawings. But we can all jump in and work together. Can never have too much practice and that is one good use for our sketchbooks!
Again, I'll post every evening what our assignment is for the next day. For tomorrow/ Tuesday, we can all find a plant, flower, tree branch or something from nature to draw. Then, just as in the video, we'll make a contour drawing (outline only) of what we see. Then 3 BLIND contour drawings of the same (looking only at our subject and not at our paper), and finally one more contour drawing.
This is a simple, straightforward exercise to get us going!
As this is my first time doing a class with Carla, I'm just getting the hang of things! We'll do the other exercises in the video too then we'll change things up a bit at the end of the week and get a little wilder!
We'll also be looking at the question of the inner critic which has already come up. I share a tip I think is really helpful in the video and I'll write more about it tomorrow evening!
Thanks for all of your sharing! I'm really inspired by what you're doing and I'm pretty sure I'll be learning at least as much as you do by working along with you!
Have a great evening, everyone! Cat
TUESDAY:
Good morning from rainy Boston!
The new video is up and we are going to use it as a jumping off point and then at the end of the week notch things up a bit. As always, I'll post daily instructions here the evening before with additional comments throughout the day.
In the video, I drew the same thing in all the exercises. Here we can draw whatever we want from nature. We'll start with flowers today but then feel free to do birds, animals, reptiles, trees, fish, shells, whatever you like.
TODAY, we're moving from all of our wild, uninhibited mark making(so inspiring!) into drawing what we see! But now we have a bit of freedom and boldness in our hands! Our goal is to bring the whole of who we are into our work. Of course we have to build our skills too so we can let go of concern about getting things right. The contour drawings we do today are great skill-building practice.
TODAY'S ASSIGNMENT: Make one contour drawing (outline only) of a flower or plant or group of flowers; then make several BLIND contour drawings (looking only at the object not the paper) of the same; and finally make another contour drawing and see how/if it differs in feeling from the first.
It's an experiment and our sketchbook is all about trying things out and leaping into new possibilities for ourselves as artists! Have fun and I'll post my drawings later too! Then end the day with something more on overcoming the inner critic and the plan for tomorrow!
See you later! Cat
TUESDAY EVENING: Comments and Instructions for Wednesday
Hello, everyone!
Wonderful work by everyone today! I'm going to start putting most of my comments up here at the end of the day, if that's okay with everyone. I am looking at everything and loving all I see but want everyone to be able to see the comments without digging for them as there are many common issues!
Today several people mentioned that they found it hard turning from our wild mark making to drawing from nature. Even though I made my living from art for years as an illustrator, I didn't spend a lot of time drawing from life (only from imagination) and, like you, found it quite challenging when I started. It does take practice and not just to get a reasonable likeness but to find our own hand in what we're doing. Sometimes we get the likeness but there's no spirit in it. It takes practice and this is one thing our sketchbook is for! A little practice every day and we will soon be very comfortable.
What helps immensely is repetition! And making blind contour drawings when we are really looking at our subject but not worrying about the results on the page. In some ways, we are memorizing what we see and part of drawing is memory. We see, hold the image in our minds, and draw.
We have the whole week to work together on this and it will be fun! So, just as it felt a bit awkward when we began our abstract drawing, we soon had all sorts of ideas! A real wealth of them! The same will happen as we go through the week drawing from nature!
One tip: When making our blind contour drawings, we can try making strong, declarative lines. It doesn't matter if the lines are in the right place! Just feel free to make marks! We might want to try doing these with a marker pen to see how it looks. I'll post an example.
Another tip: Doing multiple drawings of the same subject including blind contour really helps us see with more accuracy and get finer results!
Most important is to be very gentle with ourselves and to praise ourselves for the effort made. Everything comes with practice. Remember that Picasso spent hours and hours and years drawing! Even a little regular practice will yield amazing results.
TOMORROW: We will do EXACTLY the same exercise—contour drawing / 2 or more blind contour drawings / another contour drawing, and a colored drawing of the same subject. Let's choose another plant before moving on.
That's homework for tomorrow. I know many of us are working and super busy. Please don't worry if you fall behind. Just jump in when you can! Art is a lifelong practice!
Have a nice evening and see you in the morning! Cat
WEDNESDAY: Good morning!!!!
Loving all the work posted! Thanks so much for sharing. Jump in whenever you like! TODAY'S ASSIGNMENT (same as yesterday's): Make a CONTOUR drawing of something from nature—a plant, flower, tree branch, shell etc THEN make 1 BLIND CONTOUR drawing in black, then 2 BLIND CONTOUR drawings in 2 different colors, then a final drawing in line, shading or color. Have fun with it! We're just practicing and exploring here!
As mentioned yesterday, I am looking at everything and reading too. I'm going to make most comments up here so everyone can see and join the conversation.
This morning Tati Vice said she was experiencing resistance but doing it anyway! Yay, Tati! And thanks for bringing up this great topic!
First, resistance comes to us all at times. Sometimes it's because we've outgrown where we are and need to go to new territory. New things always make us feel a bit uncertain. Sometimes it's when we don't know where we are going exactly.
Uncertainty can cause us to stall. Sometimes we need a little break, a time to do other things, to refresh our minds. I try to do really interesting things then—go to a
museum or bookstore, meet another artist, see a movie, go for a walk somewhere new. Things that give me energy.
Sometimes we resist EXACTLY what would give us the greatest gift in this moment. Sometimes we've decided to limit ourselves for fear of failing or because we think it's too hard. So many reasons. But we can take SMALL steps in the direction of anything we love. It doesn't have to be huge. Any action stirs the energy. One thing always leads to another.
Resistance is part of being an artist. Mostly it means that we're getting close to a breakthrough, to something new and fresh and amazing!
For me, in the studio, making the first mark in my sketchbook or on a piece of paper is the way through it. Just beginning anyway. Day after day. Writing a bit, drawing, talking, going for a walk. Action.
Post your strategies for overcoming resistance below, if you like! Have a great day! I'll be back later! Here's to diving in!
Cat
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON—
Hello again!
I have to dash off for the rest of the afternoon/evening but wanted to say how amazing everyone's work is! And especially as we'd switched gears!! Love how you've all dived in!
What I super love about the blind contour is the way the lines all open up! There's so much energy and life! We can always try to leave some openings in our lines when we draw—it really gives the eye a place to enter the drawing and roam around!
We are on a roll here! I'll post later tonight our assignment for tomorrow. Let's put it this way: more fun!!!! Will also answer the comments below!
Happy evening and really great work, everyone! Cat
Wednesday evening: THE PLAN FOR THURSDAY the 15th
Hi there! Well, I'm truly impressed with all the great work we've seen today! I think people are seeming more at ease with it all. I hope so!
Always remember: we're working in our sketchbooks, just exploring, trying things out, making mistakes even a mess. We want to feel free to try things we haven't done before to see what happens. Our goal isn't to make finished art but to simply explore and learn. Sometimes, of course, it inspires us to make some art, as we've seen!
THURSDAY: We'll make observational drawings of fruits or vegetables. Take the same approach—contour drawing, several BLIND contour drawings, then try one in color.
Some of us are very busy, I know. Me too! Do what you can and remember the weekend is coming! Again, these exercises should only take a half hour or so, unless you do a little more. And, of course, you can jump in at any time to post your drawings. This is a wonderfully insightful and supportive group! Thank you all for sharing your work and comments!
Have a nice evening! Cat
THURSDAY evening: HOMEWORK!
In time, our goal is to make art a practice in which we draw regularly in our
sketchbooks and explore with open-minded abandon, unafraid to make mistakes! The more we do, the more accurate and playful our hand becomes.
That said, there is an ebb and flow to everything—sketchbook drawing too! We have the next 3 days to do the next assignment. We can take our time!
FRIDAY: Choose an animal or bird to draw! We will alter our process a little here by drawing in shapes first (see below), then contour / blind contour / and tonal or color drawing. You can use a photograph or draw from life!
DRAWING TIP: To draw first in shapes—make rough pencil ovals or circles of the body, head, legs etc of the animal or bird. This can give us a sense of proportion and help us see how things are put together.
Here's a wonderful resource. Check to see how David Hockney drew his beloved dog. He even made a whole book of dog drawings!
See you tomorrow! Cat
Good morning, FRIDAY!!!
Hope you are all doing well! The weekend is coming and some of us will have a little more time to play around in our sketchbooks! All week we've been doing
some great drawing exercises. There are so many amazing drawings here! Thank you all for sharing all you have!
One great use for our sketchbooks is to simply practice! Quite a few of you have noticed that we are seeing so much more when we sit down to simply draw what's in front of us. It's a nice way to slow down and just look at the world around us! Even better with a cup of coffee or tea beside us!
For the next four days, we'll continue on drawing from nature by trying our hand at animals and birds. I'm going to post some examples by famous artists below as the weekend progresses. I can't attach them to this post so just scroll down and don't worry if you don't see them. You can always Google an artist you love and "animals" or "birds"! It's fun to see how other artists approach these subjects. We don't have to draw or paint as they do though sometimes we see something in their work that really excites us and awakens an approach we'd like to take in our own work.
It's great to experiment and see what can happen! I think that is the great gift Picasso gave us. He taught us the importance of play!
Please work at your own pace and don't worry if you haven't done anything this week. We all have busy lives and must proceed as we can. It's just fine. Just jump in as you can and enjoy all we are seeing. This class is meant to give you some tools and ideas for growing your own work. And to have some fun here together too sharing our work and learning from each other!
By the way, I've got some great ideas here from seeing how you've interpreted our assignments and will be using them with my drawing class here in Boston tomorrow morning!! Thank you all!!!
I'll be back later this evening but the assignment here (also described below) will carry us through until Tuesday and our next big adventure!
See you later! Cat
FRIDAY EVENING:
Hello again, everyone! What a wonderful week this has been and if you go to the PHOTOS tab above and open it you will see all of our drawings together! Just beautiful!
We'll be working on drawing animals and birds until the end of Monday. You can use photographs or draw from life. Our practice is to do a contour, then few blind
contours, then contour again, then with shading or color or both!
Have fun and play around with whatever feels right for you!
I'll be back on Monday though may pop in on the weekend with some art to inspire us!
Wishing everyone a wonderful and relaxing weekend!! Cat
FRIDAY EVENING:
Hello again, everyone! What a wonderful week this has been and if you go to the PHOTOS tab above and open it you will see all of our drawings together! Just beautiful!
We'll be working on drawing animals and birds until the end of Monday. You can use photographs or draw from life. Our practice is to do a contour, then few blind
contours, then contour again, then with shading or color or both!
Have fun and play around with whatever feels right for you!
I'll be back on Monday though may pop in on the weekend with some art to inspire us!
Wishing everyone a wonderful and relaxing weekend!! Cat
MONDAY @ noon:
Hello everybody! Hope you all had a good weekend! I've been popping in to see the drawings. So great! Thank you all for posting and especially for cheering each other on! We're each on a journey of discovery and it's wonderful to see the varied ways each of you are exploring!
This is our last day of working with nature drawing in our sketchbooks! It was a bit of a jazzy week with me offering extra assignments to the videos! Please don't worry if you haven't done everything. Our goal was to begin to build a daily drawing habit and to try out this 3-step drawing practice—contour, blind contour, then shaded or color.
Our takeaway from this week is that we can apply this 3-step process to any kind of drawing we do. I hope you've found it a useful tool to help look with more care and also have fun with just being loose and exploratory!
Tomorrow we begin a new adventure and we'll base all of our drawing on the video demonstrations!
I'll post a final wrap-up tonight! Wishing everyone a good day! Cat
MONDAY / evening:
Hi! This evening Carla will post the new video for the coming week at midnight Pacific time!
We're going to be drawing objects in our environment this week. It can be anything and I can already imagine the treasures that will emerge! Surprise us!
Our assignment this week is to work in a gentle and steady way, making a daily drawing of an object from our lives based on the video demonstration.
And we're going to be drawing very simply in pencil and a bit of colored pencil to start. You will see how I worked in the video but you can make your own variations. We'll do the pencil drawing until the weekend and then we can move to the brush drawings. I'll put reminders at the top of the page each morning.
This week we're asking the question: How can we find the time to keep working in our sketchbooks when we have busy lives? One way is to squeeze in short bursts of drawing using simple tools. I look forward to hearing your strategies too!
If you haven't done all the previous exercises, don't worry. You can dive in here at any time and always go back. And if you haven't yet posted, please feel free to jump in at any time! The more the merrier! The range and wonders of all the work is truly exciting!
I'll pop in to say good morning! For now, good night! Cat
