Pencil Drawings with a Twist!

Pencil Drawings.  Pencil--aka Graphite.  Graphite, a soft carbon used in making pencils.  Special drawing pencils of soft and hard leads. I have a set of these special pencils that go from Hs to Bs.  But my favorite drawing pencil of all (for contour drawing) is a Sanford Design Ebony Jet Black Extra Smooth 14420.  Why?  Just like the name says, it provides a soft and fluid line.  It makes the line as dark as you want--just by pressure.  Here is a photo of a drawing I did with it.  Can you guess what it is? 

Graphite Copyright Lydia Gates 2012

Our Bluestem Art Guild has a new assignment for our April meeting:  Pencil Drawing.  Well, we just completed a pencil drawing to do a self-portrait. (I heard some slight grumbles in our group as the project slip was drawn randomly from the jar.)  However, a pencil drawing can be anything!!!  There are no parameters.  The possibilities are endless:  Contour, blind contour, landscape, plant, food, whatever tickles your fancy.  Just draw!  

  **An interesting drawing to try is using line to create negative and positive spaces.

  Choose a chair, ladder, a small table with legs and rungs, windchime, etc. with open spaces

1. Use a pencil to create vertical* lines around the shape.  But don't draw the shape, but draw the spaces around the shape-those you see inside and around.  Don't worry about making it perfect, imperfections, simply add character to this piece. 
2. Experiment with different lengths of the line, short, medium, long, close together, dark, light, etc. to add three-dimensionality.  Dark close lines can be used to indicate shadows. As you add the lines, you will see the chair appear on the page as a white negative object, as the lines become the dark positive spaces.  
3. *try using diagonal, or horizontal lines or try cross-hatching. 

This project teaches you hand-eye coordination.  It  may be a little hard at first, but try it several times.  I did one of a pair of salt and pepper shakers, and it was amazing!  I have also done other objects. 

Good luck!

Hint:  If you have trouble seeing the object as a negative space, you can draw a very light contour of the object and then add the lines, but honestly, this is kind of cheating.  Try to draw the lines without it.


**Credit:  A Survival Kit for the Secondary School Art Teacher by Helen D. Hume, pg 64. 



Post and artwork copyright  Lydia Gates  2013

Three Cheers for Art!

When I taught in Wichita, our very wonderful visual arts coach/mentor gave each of us elementary art teachers a sheet of  **Ten Lessons the Arts Teach by Elliot Eisner.   Below is the adapted list of what Eisner states are what the arts teach and how it shows. In parentheses, my comments.  Eisner has also written a book, The Arts and The Creation of Mind, Yale University Press, 2002. It is available from NAEA Publications.  This book may be next on my reading list.

The arts teach:

1)  how to make good art judgments. In the arts, its opinions rather than the correct answers that matters. (Your opinion counts.)
2) there is more than one solution to the problem. (Think creatively and abstractly.)
3) when solving problems, it requires a willingness to allow unanticipated possibilities as you create.(Be vulnerable in order to find joy).
4) There is no limit to what we can know.  There are no limits to art.  (The sky is the limit.)
5) Art can have a large impact-,. Small differences can have large effects. (Be prepared to be surprised.)
6) Thinking through and within art images. (It's more than just color, there is much more to discuss.)
7) to say what cannot be said.  (Non-linguistic representations speak volumes.)
8) to experience and discover a range and variety of feelings--what we cannot experience from any other source. (Self-Expression, emotions from creating or viewing art.)
9) to celebrate art through multiple perspectives--there are many ways to see the world. (Seek and find the joy of art through many facets.)
10) art in the public and private school sector is very important! (Keep it in the schools! It's teaches art, writing, and reading too, and math!!!)

 Even though it has been 11 years since this list was made, the ten things arts teach is more important now than ever!  Three cheers for art teachers that inspire, educate and give their best to teaching students of any age.  

With my master's degree in Teaching, and my Bachelors in Art Education, I can't wait to start teaching again!!! So there is no doubt, I do teach the 10 on the list above.   It's the only way to effectively teach art.  Now to just get that teaching job.

**Information provided by National Art Education Association

Self-Portraits

This is the first post I have done since the end of December 2012.  I quit the blog because I had other things to do, and lost interest in posting.  I also have my master's to complete--yeah! I'll be done at the end of March!   But to the point of this post, Self-Portraits.
  
Recently a member of our art guild died, and now in the last week another one has left us.  These two ladies were founding members of our guild.  I never saw a self-portrait of either of these ladies.  I do know that our most recent guild project for the month of March is to create a self-portrait.  The last lady to pass on worked on hers days before she died. Did she work on it live or how?  I wonder what she felt like when she was drawing it?  What emotions went through her mind?  

What are self-portraits?  A drawing, painting, pencil or other art media created by the artist of themselves.  Yes, a camera can be used to take a self-portrait.  However, doing a self-portrait LIVE in front of the mirror is a TRUE self-portrait!  Drawing a portrait from a photograph to make the self-portrait does not allow you to have feelings like doing it live. If you do it from a photograph you are cheating yourself out of an experience!  I challenge my group to do a live portrait in front of the mirror.  

I have done about 5-6 self-portraits over the years.  Sadly, it was the year 2000 before I made my first real self-portrait.  I opened my portfolio of them the other day.  I have changed so much over the years.  It's like opening a history book of my face!   

To fulfill our group project, I began first with a pencil sketch, an oil pastel, 2 tempera paintings, and a graphite drawing.  All were done in front of a mirror.  Each is different.  Each expression is different.  My mood and thoughts were different each time.  

*Picasso said, "There is nothing more interesting than people. One paints and one draws to learn to see people, to see oneself."   

*Philip Guston said, "What measure is there, other than the fact that at 'one' point in your life you trusted a feeling. You have to trust that feeling and then continue trusting yourself."
  
Doing a self-portrait is not easy, because you want to try to make it perfect.  Guess what, people we are not perfect.  Let the true you come through!

Please note:
No portion of this post may be copied and pasted into another blog, email, or through any time of electronic means without permission of me, the author.  I may be contacted at lydiagates90@yahoo.com. 

*Quotes:  from Artist to Artist; Inspiration & Advice from Artists Past & Present  by Clint Brown