Artists Drawing Panel and Discussion
Part 1
At a Bright Light Fine Art workshop in Santa Fe, we encouraged students to do studies of a subject and then turn these studies into paintings. To that end, we decided to start the week off with a Powerpoint on drawing and in particular, sketches we had done in preparation for paintings.
David starts off the discussion with some sketches he did years ago in a cafe. He talks about using a graph on the drawing so that he could later transfer it to the canvas. He shares his sketches for “Barrabas,” one of his unusual masterpieces, as well as a Don Quixote series addressed throughout his career.
Sherrie then takes over with a small drawing she did when she worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This 6″ x 4″ drawing inspired one of her most iconic images–“Copyist at the Met,” where an artist is copying a Rembrandt at the Met. Sherrie talks about an important lesson she learned about size and placement and the struggles this particular painting gave her. She continues with stressing the playfulness of drawing and the shorthand quality of a gesture. She also stresses the importance of drawing what interests you.
Jackie wraps up Part 1 by focusing on drawings she did at a Veterans’ home, where she studied these honorable men and women where most often she only had 45 minutes to complete her drawings.
Part 2
Sherrie opens up Part 2 with some drawings of uncooperative models, showing how a big part of drawing is learning to go out into the world and capture life on the fly. The first two drawings are of Elsie, a small 2 year old. The first is a gesture of her nursing and then a pastel of her playing in a colorful dress.
Jackie talks more about her series of portraits of Veterans and how exciting it was to draw all these characters and capture them with a large audience, one after the other. They also joke about how a Veterans’ home is a great place to find free models.
They all field questions from students in a lively discussion about drawing and what the instructors feel is important to capture with drawing. David talks about his strongest influences and how they shaped his drawing philosophy. Through wonderful examples, all three instructors talk about how naturally they were all drawn to sharing their knowledge. This inspired students to draw what interested them and to make line as meaningful as possible.
The slide show ends with one of David’s drawing masterpieces, his best self portrait drawing. This film will inspire you to take drawing into the world and for it to become a natural part of your life.