Art with Cynthia

A  nature journal is a collection of drawings from observation in nature:  Get a sketch book and some drawing tools and take them with you when you go to the woods or the beach. Draw what interests you, and take notes.  Drawing in nature can help you to understand how plants and animals are put together, and also help you to really see and remember. I usually combine nature drawing with photos, so if I decide to do a larger drawing or painting in the studio I have plenty of reference material. A page in your nature sketchbook doesn’t have to be a pretty, finished drawing. It’s a practical tool and it can help you learn new things.  Add some metadata to your page, like the date, the weather;  note the size, the color, the habitat or the smell. What does it feel like? Where did you find it?  Add questions that you want to look up later. Here are different ideas and methods that you can use in your nature journal. Draw one item in nature from a few different angles. Take a plant apart and

Drawing is a process that is intertwined with seeing. To draw, you need to see the way an artist sees. How to see like an artist is a hard thing to explain, so most people never learn the skill-- but it is learnable by anyone, with practice. Seeing like an artist involves shifting from the verbal/logical use of your brain to the visual/intuitive side. When you use the right side of your brain, you will enter that state where you can't access words, awareness of time disappears, yet you feel alert, relaxed, and happy. And then you will also begin to see things the way artists do. Vase-Face Drawing:   This exercise is one way to practice the shift from left to right brain.  Using pencil, draw a symbol of a profile of a face- the left brain can easily draw a symbol from memory. Begin on the left side of your paper, so the face is facing to the right. (If you are left-handed, reverse it). Start at the top of the head, and use one uninterrupted line. Make the face approximately 5"

Drawing Two:   Continue to practice your drawing skills, using more interesting models and new tools. We will make an ink brush drawing of a vegetable still life, an expressive animal composition from a photo, a finished pencil drawing of a tree, and a negative space ink drawing of a flower, while also learning more about composition, style, and self-expression. Class time: Tuesdays at 7 pm via zoom, plus private face-to-face meetings weekly We will start class on Tuesday, September 8, but meanwhile, check the blog and do some of the warm up practices (I'll include some for those vacationing at the coast!)  I will start scheduling our private meetings on the 1st; I'll send open times and you will choose a slot. Fee:    4 group hours plus 4 private face-to-face meetings of 30 minutes = 6 hours = $60 for September, due by Sept. 1.