I took a weekend-long travel sketching class this weekend in San Francisco. The class is marketed mostly for design students, and I was one of very few non-designers in the class. But I wanted to focus on learning to draw buildings, so taking a class from a designer seemed like it would be a good idea. And it was. Richard is a great teacher. He's engaging, clear, and breaks down complex ideas into easy-to-digest pieces. Of course I had all these building blocks already, from years of art classes, but somehow my brain was refusing to connect the idea of "how to draw" to "how to draw a building." But look at that. A fairly recognizable building in my sketchbook! I did learn a lot, and I have gained a lot courage in approaching scenes that contain structures. This is going to help my travel sketching a lot.
The color work we did was good practice for me, but hard. I get frustrated so easily with watercolors. I have to practice this. Color mixing and paint application just takes a lot of practice. I hate to practice. I always have. If it isn't easy for me at the beginning, I tend to quit. But watercolors are not like riding a bike. If you don't practice, you forget. It is more like practicing ballet. You might remember the moves, but unless you do it all the time, the muscles and flexiblity (and grace) go away. You have to practice to stay good. Damn it.
The best part of this class for me was the afternoon, when we left the classroom to sketch in the field. Richard gave us a map each day with a general area marked out for us to roam in, and we scattered to find whatever subjects were interesting to us. Saturday afternoon we worked in the marina area, in front of Ghiradelli Square. Sunday we went to the Palace of Fine Arts, one of the most beautiful places in San Francisco, in my opinion. Sitting on the ground, sketchbook in lap, favorite tunes in my ears, totally focused on the conversation between my eyes and my hand; this was excellent meditation time for my brain. It wasn't easy. I did some bad drawings, and some emotional stuff welled up that was uncomfortable. But I sat with it, let it wash over me and away. Turn the page, try again. In art as in life.
I'm glad you liked Richard's class. I took it too in Pasadena last year, and thought it was very helpful.
Posted by: martha | Saturday, July 21, 2007 at 01:23 PM
I think allowing yourself to do "bad stuff" is so important and so tricky. I took a class called Poetry on the Run once... what a wonderful experience!
Posted by: Molly | Monday, June 25, 2007 at 07:14 PM