With the drawing classes winding down and the drawing year coming to an end, I have decided it was time to revive this blog by posting regularly about the various themes we have been exploring throughout the last few months. Students at the Observatoire studio range from 5 year olds to teenagers (and the occasional adult), and in most weeks, there is a theme, that will be interpreted in various ways by the different drawing groups. The results are as varied as you can imagine and sometimes throw great insights into how students of different personalities, different age, and in different environments (peers) produce different drawings.
In each lesson, there would have been a goal, something to explore. Sometimes, it’s a medium, sometimes it’s an aspect of drawing (such as contour drawing, perspective, shading, negative space, composition…), and sometimes it’s about letting the participants take ownership of their drawing (vs. creating a “perfect” drawing). Sometimes the constraints are strong, sometimes there are none. Most of the time, the instructions are only a beginning and the participants are invited to finish their drawing in their own way (or start a second one, on their own)
The themes explored in the last term have been:
- How to draw an apple accurately enough that you might be able to pick it from a bowl?
- Many different cacti.
- Drawing water bottles. Is it boring?
- How hard is it to draw a ping-pong ball? (Challenge)
- Build your own house and draw it.
- Observing insects close-up. Drawing them accurately.
- Understanding Master’s paintings through their mark-making.