AMAZING STUDENT WORK

Have I ever told you how rewarding I find teaching art? It is like a rush of adrenaline when I see the student's work begin to come alive, to become 3 dimensional and "leave the page". I love it when I see the person I am teaching begin to believe that he or she actually has the ability and talent to create what they never dreamed was possible.
A short while ago I taught a high school aged young man who had an interest in drawing, but had no teaching which enabled him to know how to go about doing a drawing. He did every exercise I asked of him, as well as his homework, and by the end of the 6 lessons (spread over 6 weeks), he produced this rendering of a hand...not just any hand, but my best model's hand (my husband!). He did a fantastic job of capturing the lights and darks, the lost edges and the blurring of shadows. I love the reflected lights and the way you see the fleshy part of the thumb folding into the palm.
I am so pleased for Jaron, and for the results he achieved during our time together. I hope he continues to draw, and to improve through practise. But most of all, I hope he feels joy in the process, knowing he can do so much more than he dreamed was possible.

Jaron's drawing of a hand

REAL DRAGONS

Value Scale Chart

This summer, I have had the privilege of teaching one of my youngest students yet. He is 7 years old, and has wanted to know how to draw and make things look real for a couple of years now. In particular, he wanted to learn how to draw dragons. 

I agreed to take him as a student for my normal 6 lessons' duration, but twice a week instead of once a week, in order to finish up before the school year progressed too far. I sent him photos of some things we could work on, but he chose a picture I had taken in Mexico of a "dragon" iguana. I really felt this would be a huge challenge for a 7 year old, and that it would definitely test whether my teaching methodology could work with a child so young.

After learning that all things can be defined and drawn with certain shapes, we began to learn the value scale. As you can see above, the student understood and could reproduce the varying shades of value quite well. But what thrilled me was that I could ask him what value a certain part of an object or photo was, and he would give me the correct value every time. It was something he understood intrinsically.

shading begins on the line drawing

 The creature was too difficult for the child to draw, especially within the time frame we had, so we traced a line drawing, making sure we had the main lines so that we could locate landmark features. This took quite a bit of time as this iguana is quite complex. For a 7 year old, this little guy stuck to it and was surprised when each hour and a half lesson was over! Engagement was never a problem!

Here you can see the beginning of the shading process. I ask him to tell me what value we should put in various areas, and then we do the shading according to what he was seeing as the value - which was correct each time! The reason for the piece of paper which is hiding the rest of the drawing is so that his hand and arm do not smudge the paper where he is working over it.

And here is where we ended our 5th lesson...he is  assessing value and shape, and reproducing it extremely well. It has taken quite a bit of time to get this much done on the head, but he is meticulously and takes great pride in doing well. As we work, we continue to repeat the steps that we have taken to create the light and the shadow, with the middle values in between. And he continues to understand better and better what it takes to make something look 3 dimension, like it actually has form which is coming off the page, so to speak.  I am sure we won't finish this drawing in the last lesson, but it is the process that counts right now. 

Could he draw this creature on his own from scratch? Not yet. But given another year or so of lessons, I am sure he would surprise all of us with what he could accomplish - especially as his passion and desire to draw is so strong. I love to see the spark of creativity light in each of my students! It is so exciting for me as a teacher to have the honor of helping to enable each student to achieve a part of their dreams.   :-)  My new set of lessons starts next week. I have a few spaces open, so if you or your child (in the Calgary area) are interested in taking drawing or painting lessons from me, please contact me: jogiesbrecht@gmail.com         

 

On the drawing board: head of the dragon partially completed

STUDENT'S DRAWING LESSONS

one of my students working on her drawing

One of the most rewarding parts of teaching art to kids and adults alike is when I see their  talents begin to emerge. They get excited to see what they can accomplish when they learn the proper techniques and have the right tools to reproduce the still life set before them, or the face in a picture, or even an abstract painting which is just in their minds.


This is one of my adult students who wanted to learn how to draw realistically. She did not have any particular object that she wanted to learn to draw, so I chose an antique sifter that I inherited...you have probably seen this one. It's white metal with red rings and handle, and a wooden ball attached to the part that you use to sift the flour.  So, as you can imagine, there are several challenges in this still life, but the biggest one is how to draw metal so that it LOOKS like metal!  Julie is doing a great job. This will be a drawing that could be framed when it is complete, I am sure. And, I am sure she will go far now that she's had the lessons that gave her confidence, and a new way to see as an artist. ***sigh of contentment***

Drawing Lessons

The Rope Drawing

Many of my art students want to learn how to draw. It amazes me how tentative and perfectionistic we become as we get older, making us afraid to "make mistakes" or to risk having something turn out "wrong"!

This student is a teenager who has lots of natural talent. She has had no formal instruction, but has intuitively been trying to paint and draw. After having one drawing lesson, she has taken the tips and instruction I gave her and made HUGE strides in her work!

I gave her a tiny piece of rope which had been tied in a knot, and she took it home with her last week. She drew the knotted rope very large on her paper, and used her value scale to place her darks, midtones and lights. The foundation of her drawing was great, and after some more instruction, she was accomplishing this beautiful rendering. She will finish it at home this week. It sure feels wonderful to see how excited she is about her success as she applies the principles she has learned. That is what makes teaching so rewarding - my student's successes!