I have enrolled in an on-line class with Jane Davies, titled "100 Drawings". The class continues for ten weeks, and we are expected to create 6 - 10 drawings each week.
For our first week, we were
- to work only with line (not shape or pattern or texture),
- and only with black, grey and white.
- to aim for a variety of line (thin vs. thick, crisp vs. smudgy, jagged vs. sinuous vs. straight),
- that engaged with the edges of the paper,
- that was intentional and thoughtful, and not just a scribble,
- using a variety of media (charcoal, marker, ink, graphite, paint).
We are to post our work on a class blog every week, so we can learn from each other, and from the teacher's comments on each student's output. We are expected to choose one or two of our own pieces and explain exactly what we "see" happening in the piece. We are not to describe the process, just the result.
At first, I spent too much time experimenting with variety of line (actually kind of fun), but I then re-focused on creating a feeling of depth.
The instructor's response to my drawings was that they were "beautiful" and fulfilled the requirements of having varied lines and variable use of veiling. Jane Davies suggested I would benefit from making a few that were more dense (more lines, more levels of obscuration) to expand my range. All the other participants had filled their papers with more lines, with exuberance winning out over restraint, and the instructor's own examples showed more density too.
Something to keep in mind, but the class is fast-paced, and I've already moved on to Lesson 2. Part of taking a class is learning about your own inclinations, and whether to stretch them, break through them, or honour them.
4 comments:
I have taken a couple of classes with Jane and 100 drawings was my favorite. Jane is such a good teacher and she has very clear feedback, not just "attagirls". I found it helpful to pull up my submissions and Jane's comments and save them as PDFs so I could go back through them later.
The class really moves right along. Enjoy!!
She is a great teacher! And I appreciate the reminder to save her comments for later reference. Thanks for taking the time to comment. More posts to follow!
I love what you have done with your line drawings!
Ah, the magic of paint....
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