Is Attending an Art Workshop like Riding A Rollercoaster? - Painting & Drawing Tips

This past week I was SUPER excited.  I was going to an Art Workshop.  You may think this a strange comment as I often go to workshops. But as a Teacher.  

This time I was a student!

Our Class Throwdown - Can you pick out Mine??

I am the program organizer for our art group and I arrange a special 2-day workshop each year. I don't usually go to the workshops but this year's instructor really caught my eye.  

Linda Bell, SFCA and her topic: Playing with Abstraction.  

You're surprised, I am sure.  Me, a realist, wildlife artist that loves to paint nature and all its elements.  What am I doing 'playing with abstraction' with dishes, and tables and vases. 

I found I really liked her work and I loved what she did with her colours, patterns and shapes.  She really grabbed the eye with her pieces and kept it in the frame.  I thought that there were things there I could learn.  And I felt with completely different subject material I would not be distracted by my usual detail. I felt I was ready for the challenge. 

Linda and some of her work in the background

When our supply list and handouts came, I could hardly wait to open the email. OMG!!! There was so much STUFF.  I didn't understand half of it: Mediums, Glazing Liquids, Open and Fluid Acrylics.  I deal in watercolour, pens and pencils.  This was way over my head!  

I felt like that Roller Coast had taken off without me firmly planted in my seat.  . . .  What have I done!!

Abstraction with collaging needs Lots of Stuff

Fortunately a friend talked me off the edge and I got over the first bump.  Although the Art Store, certainly benefited.  

First Day started. . .

Got set up, scribbled like mad while she explain how abstraction principles worked and then FROZE!!  

It seemed easy as she used words like: simplify, distort, flatten, fracture, exaggerate.  But now take a bird, a vase and a wine glass and draw 6 different ways of applying abstraction to them.  

Try it! . . .

It's hard if that is not your way of thinking.  One or two ways come to mind but 6.  This was a BIG BUMP on that rollercoaster.  My confidence was shaken.  Maybe this isn't fun.  Maybe this is not for me.  (Should I mention here that I have a problem with heights and riding any rollercoaster is scary) 

I am feeling like I have a Plan

We pressed on.  We sketched a few things.  We studied examples.  I felt better.  I began to see a way.  I had a plan.  I was good to go.  Definitely starting to enjoy the ride.  

I started painting.  

This was a bit of bumpy patch on that roller coaster ride.  I haven't much experience with acrylics and they didn't always want to do what my watercolours did.  I asked questions and moved along.  I expected trouble in this area.  I wasn't totally confident but I moved on.  

At first we started small and slow

Day 2, Thank heavens there is a DAY 2. . . .

When I got home after the first day I felt overwhelmed.  I could think of 100 better things I could have done with my painting.  I couldn't remember half of what she had told us.  I was tired.  

As I entered the classroom I could feel the surge of power in the room.  New energy.  New resolve.  Lots of Questions. The need to attack the problems was intense. 

Head down and focused - We were on the winning path

We all painted on.  Some new and some over the old.  We all seemed empowered.  Linda demoed a few more examples and ideas and we toiled on.  

By noon, I knew the Ride was nearly over.  

I felt confidence creeping in to my every stroke.  I knew I was ready for the BIGGEST Bumps at the end of ride.  Life was good again. 

My Flower Pot - Did you find mine in the Throwdown? 

Takeaways:

1. I don't know a thing about colour!!  When you paint from your imagination, there are no colours there.  I normally paint from life, so colours are suggested.  I can push and pull them but there is at lease a starting point. 

2. I can understand more how pattern, value and shape controls the movement. Even as you work with flat shapes, your mind tells you when more is needed and where.    

3.  I certainly understand more how My students feel, as they start new things in their art.  I need to be more conscience of not overwhelming, what is straight forward to me is not always to others.  

4. 2 Day workshops are Great.  Having that second day to go back and pull things together made a big difference to me and from my observations, to others as well.  Several years ago, I switched to 3 class packs for my lessons.  As the teacher, I found it more rewarding to teach something and then have time to practice and review with my students. 

5. It was like a holiday, spending a few days focused only on my art. Everything else slipped by the wayside.  Despite the challenges, when I was finished I was tired but somehow refreshed. 

My next Rollercoaster ride will be in April. I am off to Italy to study with Karen Stamper for a week.  We will be doing Urban Sketching but in an Abstracted Way.  Another big Challenge, I expect there will be a few big bumps on this ride as well.  

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Outdoor Sketching Classes this summer 2024

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