Advanced Drawing and Composition 2016 week 8

The eighth and final session of the Advanced Drawing and Composition class for Winter 2016 was held on Wednesday, March 2. We finished up our study of composition by sharing our final assignment: ‘Compose a Sketch’, and spent most of the class on a long and thorough critique. The variety of results was a testament to how uniquely we each see the world, with diverse areas of focus and interpretation. We also enjoyed a poetry reading from a surprise visitor who shared with us a very special homage to our teacher! Please read the full post to see the images, hear the audio portion of class, and join us as we wrap up an exciting and challenging session of Advanced Drawing and Composition.

Advanced Drawing and Composition 2016 week 7

The seventh session of the Advanced Drawing and Composition class for Winter 2016 was held on Wednesday, February 24. We critiqued the previous homework, shared the merits and challenges of keeping to a predetermined structure, and how different the results are when choosing between a plane or recessional composition. We discussed the famous painting, The Fighting Temeraire, by J.M.W. Turner, and went through a ‘checklist’ for what choices Turner had to make to create this masterpiece. We finished the class with a conversation on the differences between sketching and drawing, while Dick shared some of his beautiful sketches set in Hawaii and California from the late 1950s. Please enjoy the full post, which includes videos and audio recordings.

Advanced Drawing and Composition 2016 week 6

The sixth session of the Advanced Drawing and Composition class for Winter 2016 was held on Wednesday, February 17. We went over our second composition assignment, discussed the importance of creative problem solving and how it affects composition, and watched a brief slide show on how the reigning beliefs shaped the aesthetic results of the Greek, Gothic, and Renaissance eras, among others. Please enjoy the full post, with audio and video provided by Valérie.

Advanced Drawing and Composition 2016 week 5

The fifth session of the Advanced Drawing and Composition class for Winter 2016 was held on Wednesday, February 10. We spent most of the class on a thorough critique of the homework, using worksheets and handouts to guide our thoughts, and discussed the importance of having relationships between all components of a piece. We were made aware of the differences between a value statement vs. a judgment, and Dick talked about why, as an artist, it is so important to identify your theme before beginning your work. We received a new homework assignment, and wrapped up our session with a fun game that conveyed the difficulty in communicating an accurate visual message.

Advanced Drawing and Composition 2016 week 4

The fourth session of the Advanced Drawing and Composition class for Winter 2016 was held on Wednesday, February 3. We shared and critiqued our skull drawings, discussed surface differences in more detail, and refreshed our memory on the ‘six phases of creative problem solving’. We spent a good portion of class discussing our next challenge, COMPOSITION. What is it, and why is it important? Read an excerpt, and listen to the full discussion near the end of the post.

Drawing Foundation 2015 week 7

The seventh session of the Drawing Foundation class for Fall 2015 was held on Thursday, October 29. We discussed the importance of visual clues and how that contributes to visual literacy; what does it mean when we say art is ‘stylized’; the variation of personality found in line quality; and the new challenges in drawing a complex object (in this case, a plant).