Cactus Monday AND Drawing Without Fear Class on Sunday

This is one of the quilts at the SF quilt show on Saturday that I really liked...and knew I had found the perfect Cactus Monday picture!!!!! (artist unknown, sorry). It really sparkled with shiny threads and yarns for spikes and other parts too. HCM (I did NOT make this wonderful quilt.)

I loved my one day drawing class. We started with the teachers book, Drawing Without Fear by Robert Regis Dvorak, and learned many techniques that left me feeling that I could indeed draw. This first drawing was done using a large bamboo stick and India ink. Instruction was to draw shapes other than circles, squares, rectangles or triangles (I cheated a little) and have all lines touching...at the end of the day we learned shading and used a cotton swab stick to shade parts of the drawing. We did several contour drawings blind (eyes closed) and with sneaking a peek while looking at the subject, but not at the paper as much as possible and not lifting the pen from the paper. This one was done with my non dominant hand and a bamboo stick/India ink.

I love this one, my unintentional Picasso style one line contour blind drawing...looking only at the subject, never at the paper and not lifting the pen from the paper.

This is the same subject also contour one line drawing but using "sneak a peek" at the paper occasionally...not lifting pen from paper.

This was the final continuous line contour drawing using ink pen (calligraphy pen dipped in India ink) using sneak a peek and adding shading. (different subject).

We were only allowed to critique using the following words:

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW

KOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL

AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

I'll tell you I left feeling ready to do the homework: draw 2-4 minutes every single day.

Seems so doable.

We also drew looking at a picture upside down.

We drew using string dipped in ink while standing up.

We drew with paper folded in half and made ink blots to get the same thing on both sides of paper.

We drew with our eyes closed (a car we had in our lives at some time).

We drew a cotton ball using pencil (were told NOT to erase) and learned to hatch and shade.

This teacher perfers we draw with pen. He is not a fan of erasing.

It was a full day and a lot of fun!

In two weeks time I will take his water color class which is for people who have never painted before! I can hardly wait.