Art Journal: Class Demo

A demo I did in my recent class. Someone spotted a face in my random paint splatters, and I just went with it. I
think it looks vaguely Asian... like a kabuki mask. 

Over the month of March I taught a class at a local senior's centre. I wasn't so sure about the teaching thing... I'd done a couple workshops, but they were short enough that I couldn't really get to the core of my subject. It ended up being more like a step by step thing than an actual class where I imparted any kind of wisdom. This class was different... not only because I had more than a few hours to get all my information out, but because the class was based on the thing I have struggled with for most of my artistic life: how can we generate ideas?

That was always the thing that was my biggest stumbling block. When I was in school it was something we never touched on. Everyone else seemed to be overflowing with possibilities, while I doodled in my sketchbook and stared at my blank canvas wishing something... anything... would come to me. It really sucked. And it made me feel like I was somehow less than the others. Less of an artist. Not creative at all, in fact. And that, combined with all the other stuff... the brutal critiques, the absence of technical instruction, the complete lack of support... made me reluctant to label myself "artist". 

Twenty years later and I've figured out how my brain works. For me, anyway, it's about latching on to something that fascinates me, and working through all the crappy ideas until I get to the good stuff. Sometimes it takes a while. There's writing, there's reading. I am usually obsessed with something for a while before it starts coming out in my little books. The books themselves are like some little time-travel journey through my brain... a working through ideas until I hit on the thing that I think I can take somewhere interesting. I brought a pile of these journals with me on the first day of class, and everyone had a chance to take a good look while I babbled on about how important it was to work in a series so your ideas have a chance to percolate and the easiest, most obvious things get out of the way. It must have had some sort of impact, because everyone showed up on week two with a book started, and an idea ready to go.

One thing that really impressed me about this class was how open they were to everything. I have some pretty unorthodox ways of working, especially when I'm beginning a project... I start without any idea of what I'm going to do, I use all kinds of homemade and improvised tools, I work with what shows up rather than planning everything out. I'm a fan of painting over things that don't work. I got no resistance from this group. The tried everything. It was awesome.

I hope I'm like that when I'm "old". But you know, not one of them seemed old to me. Could be because I'm no youngster myself...the older I get the less a difference in age seems to mean. But I think it was more their spirit of adventure and openness to new ideas. That's the thing I need to hold on to.

Refilling the Well

Contour drawing of Duke Ellington. Charcoal on paper.

I've been busy lately. Incredibly busy. Months and months painting, then preparing to show. Four shows in a month. It's been pretty crazy. And I'm tired. Maybe would feel less run down if I'd sold more, but that's how it goes. I got lots of feedback, so that's good. That helps. But.... what now? That's the question. I'm tired, I'm empty, and I need to refill my inspiration well. Best way to do that.... for me it's to take a class. It always works. It gets me thinking in a different way, approaching the image from a different angle. And I get to meet new people and be social, while creating in a judgement free zone. Every artist needs that from time to time, in order to get somewhere new. 

The class I decided on is "Experimental Portraiture", taught by Kim Lee Kho. We're 3 weeks into it, and so far, so good. We've worked with masks, done some collage, and this week we tackled continuous contour drawing. I haven't done that in a long time, and i had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. It was fun. We were working from a photo of an "interesting face". I brought in Duke Ellington... there are some wonderful photos of him online, and his face is most certainly interesting. The exercise was to do an initial drawing from the photo, then draw from the drawing until you got to the essence of the person. How do you know when you get there? Well.... I guess you just know. 

 

Progression of drawings, 2 through 6. At #3 I switched
hands to try to stop being so analytical. I think its funny
that while none of these really look like him, they all kind of look
like him... if you know what i mean.

Next week we're taking the drawing and working it in wire. It was explained that we would be doing this before we started drawing... and it's kind of a difficult thing to imagine if you've never done it. I tried to simplify so I didn't end up with an unmanageable project. We were looking at the sculptures done  by Alexander Calder as an example. I don't know how that's going to work, and that's good. Nothing like trying something new and different to really get the brain going. 

Abstract Cat: Step-by-Step

"In the Garden"   8x10" Acrylic on paper

This past weekend was a cultural event held every year called Doors Open. The Gallery in London, where I exhibit, has recently converted some of it's space into a workshop area, so they asked if I would participate in the event by teaching a short beginner class. I've never done anything like this before, but hey, I'm always up for something new. So, to prepare for this, I worked through a small painting, simplifying my "style" to something that would be pretty easy for a beginner to follow.

I took photos as I was going... mostly so I would remember what I did, but also so I could post it here afterwards as a refresher for my students. Unfortunately my plans to video tape didn't quite work out, but I have my working shots, so hopefully that will do. Here you go... "In the Garden", step by step.

Step 1: I always start on black. There are a few reasons for this, but it started as a way to avoid the paralysis that comes from staring at a blank, white surface. I worked in pastel for many years and developed a knack for working dark to light... it's unusual, yes, but it works for me.

Step 2: Add the whites. I don't just use a brush. I have brushes that i love, but I really will use whatever I feel like. You can probably see my hand prints in here (look bottom right), I've scraped some with an old credit card, and I've used my trusty fan brush to make some flower-like marks. I usually go for an equal white/black ratio, or if I'd like it darker overall I'll leave more black.









Step 3: Add some colour. I love the transparency of Tri-art acrylics (check the tube, it will be marked with a T for transparent), so that is what I have on hand. The paints at the gallery were a little more opaque, so things didn't work quite the same way. We added water to thin them out a bit. I add my colour the same way I do the white... with whatever strikes me. I added some white to my blue to lighten it up a bit, then scratched out some swirls with the back of my brush handle (see centre right). I've got a few layers going on here. If you are interested in this process in more detail, I've got a piece in progress that will be posted on my page on the Global Vernissage website. It's not quite ready yet, but will be soon.

Step 4 (not shown): the cat is cut out of paper. It's very simple, just a silhouette. I put the cutout over the most interesting part, the lower right corner, using it as a mask, and painted around it in white. Then I added in a little yellow and green around the head, to blend it into the background. Once you know how it's done it's pretty easy to see it. Go back and look... you'll know exactly what I mean.

That's me in the middle, my class working away.

Me, doing my thing.

My happy class, with their finished cat paintings. Every one was completely different. Awesome.