Today my learning took a different path as I joined a group of like-minded students for a drawing session in our local woodland. The reason for this is that a local school, Eden Primary, is hosting a short sequence of adult education classes with notable speakers and instructors. Tonight then I hooked up with this Art for Everyone class led by Georgia Wolfson and Laura Fox:
Eden’s artist in residence Laura and sculptor Georgia are teaming up to present a four week practical session on The woods in summer – drawing and painting. Laura and Georgia invite you to spend the evening in Coldfall Woods, opposite the school, making observational paintings and drawings. Using a variety of mediums and tools there will be opportunities to experiment with scale and techniques. No artistic experience or talent required! These art sessions are always hugely popular – book early.
To kick things off, and warm us up, Laura provided us with a small sticker to place on a nearby tree. We then had to fill this small space with our observation of another tree and as we drew Laura and Georgia circulated with additional stickers to extend our canvas where necessary. The best part of this is that we were free to just get something down on paper without worrying about the larger picture or trying to fit everything in. As it happens I picked out a slender, young sapling nearby and did my best to capture its overall form:
What I like best about my picture is that it demonstrates how the eye can pick out appealing elements of form and structure which are just washed out in a photograph. For sure my tree doesn't look much like the actual sapling but I think that it has some level of "tree-ness" about it and that's the effect I'm aiming for.
After this introduction Laura asked us to select a different subject and gave us free rein to choose from pastels, paints, charcoal and pencils in drawing this on a somewhat larger scale. Unusually she also provided some reasonably long bamboo sticks with pencils and other tools taped to the end - the idea being that you could place your paper on the ground and draw away with a certain amount of abandon. So that's exactly what I did:
With the stick in my hand I was able to generate some decently free-flowing lines which emphasised the organic nature of the trunks and their close grouping together. Again the result isn't a true representation of the scene in front of me but there's a certain fluidity which appeals. Unfortunately I ran out of time a bit and couldn't quite decide how to bring some colour into the picture. Also, as mentioned by Georgia, I probably spent a bit too much time looking at the paper rather than focusing on the tree and trusting my hand to bridge the gap. A useful lesson and lots of fun.