Tues. Mar. 29 INDIA INK: The Exquisite Corpse

We're back. Students practiced and explored drawing with India ink. In order to make tonalities with ink you have to use linear techniques: hatching (lines), cross-hatching (criss-crossing lines), stippling (dots) and patterns. Remember the closer the lines, the darker the value (or dots in regards to stippling).

To acquaint ourselves with ink and pen, we played the Surrealist game, the "Exquisite Corpse." It requires at least 3 players.  Fold a piece of paper into thirds or a section for each player if you have more than three. The first player draws the head. Second draws the torso and third draws waist down. Above are two examples of the evenings bounty.

IT'S SPRING BREAK

We'll be back Tuesday, March 29th.

Mar. 17 MIDTERM DRAWINGS

Students finished midterm drawings and then we critiqued them. Mariah Clarks drawing (above) is a great example of the imaginative elements students added to the still life.  The tiles are from Mariah's imagination. This drawing exhibits a strong directional pull starting from the bottom right corner up to the center, left and then changing direction to the upper right due to the angle of the tiles.

Hernan Esquivel's drawing makes strong use of the categories of light most notably in the way his cast shadows ground the objects to the table top. Notice the way the background creates tension as if it were a large blade coming down on the still life.  Beautifully rendered values in the positive and negative areas.

Michelle Phillips drawing also exhibits keen observational skills of the categories of light.  Her placement of the still life does a good job of cropping and activating the negative areas.  The wood grain, although a little heavy handed, is a very good textural rendering and adds to the overall design.

REMEMBER: After Spring Break we will begin with India Ink studies.  Bring ink, pen and nibs, brushes, sticks & twigs, as well as found objects that look like they would make interesting marks by stamping, etc.  Some suggestions would be cork from a wine bottle, an old sponge, or piece of heavy fabric.

Wed. Mar. 16 LINEAR PERSPECTIVE

Students completed two-point linear perspective drawings. Pat Chan's drawing (above) has not only succeeded with an ambitious window design but she has created a minimal pleasing arrangement of sculptural elements.

Emily Keelan's drawing exhibits some very inventive arrangements of standard shapes.  In particular the four pyramids supporting a fifth, the ramp-like pedestal on the left and the horizontally stretched diamond on the right.

The archway in Christine Argenio's drawing is not only imaginative it possesses a great flow as well.  Note the movement from the back support over to the front evolving into the inverted pyramid which functions like an arrow.  The space is further enhanced by the repetition of ellipses and spheres.

This was my last class with the M/W crew.  Thanks for all your hard work.  Marsha Connell will resume after Spring Break with Ink. Bring pen and nibs, brushes, found objects and of course India Ink.
Cheers,
Wm.

Mon. Mar. 14 LINEAR PERSPECTIVE

Monday's class got started on their two-point linear perspective drawings.  See the posts from the Tuesday class for examples of how these may develop (below).

REMEMBER PORTFOLIOS ARE DUE ON WEDNESDAY 3/16 WITH HOMEWORK AND DHR.
This will be the last class with me.  Marsha Connell will resume the class after the Spring Break.

Thurs. Mar. 10 Linear Perspective: The Museum

Two examples of perspective drawings from the Tues./ Thurs. class. Donna Holbrook's drawing (Art 7A) shows the interior view of a room in two-point linear perspective.  The assignment was to create a room with sculptural forms inside. Notice that she has also placed a one-point perspective box in the room on the left.  This is the viewer's location in the image.

Mike Geare's drawing (Art 7B) is a beautifully illustrated rendering of a flight of stairs.  To achieve this Mike used two horizon lines.  First the standard horizontal horizon line locating "eye level" and the set of vanishing points.  Secondly, to find the incline of the stairs and banister, he used a vertical horizon line.

Wed. Mar.9 VALUE: Four Divisions

Students continued with another series of drawings exploring rhythm and movement through value patterns. Brian Vance's drawing (top) illustrates a criss-crossing composition of light and dark values complemented by bold expressive mark-making and patterns. Pat Chan's drawing (bottom), although unfinished) exhibits a strong, dense composition of overlapping, stacked forms.  Her placement of light and dark values pushes the "eye" back through the composition first through the white shapes and secondly through the black shapes.