Drawing Class Week 2

As promised, the heat and humidity returned today and worse than ever.  But class goes on.  I arrived a little over an hour before class was due to start, and found the fans on, and the new dehumidifier plugged in and running.  In this second week not as much stuff to bring in, one trip from the car carried everything from home, and a few trips brought everything I had stored in the Studio that I would want for today.  Nichole stopped by to check on a few things.  Mostly I sat at the wooden table, in the path of the fans, and waited for the students to arrive.

Most had arrived in the 10 minutes before class was due to start, and a few just a few minutes later.  Six of the seven from last week came (one sorry to have to leave the beach, but art class was worth it she said), and maybe I'll find out about the missing one next week.  Today's main topic is negative space, a very important tool in visual art, in still life it is a factor in how all things are spaced.  Standard drawing lesson I do with all students- start by drawing all the empty spaces in my wooden desk chair, which I happen to store in my Studio.  It's a tricky concept for beginners, but the thinking is good for them and the lesson is valuable.  And learned. We took a brief break, then I set up the second exercise- a still life of assorted bottles.  This time they drew the positive shapes, the actual bottles, but I suggested they consult the negative spaces to figure out the relative positions of the bottles, or to better understand the shapes.  For a simple symmetrical object, bottles can be surprisingly tricky.

I also moved the tables they were using to all around the wooden table.   Much easier than moving the heavy wooden table (I tried earlier) and besides those large columns were getting in the way of them seeing the bottles.  Both exercises proved successful, as I expected (I've taught this many times before) and it was clear they all got the concept.  Next week the focus is on perspective and ellipses, but negative space is part of that, so I hope they will remember it well.  (at least one student admitted doing more shoe drawings at home on her own time, and though I gave them no homework, I did suggest a few ways they could practice the concept if they wanted to) The dehumidifier had shut off on its own (maybe full?) so after I brought stuff back to the Studio, I shut off the fans and lights, and carried stuff back to my car.  Down in the basement it was getting humid and I wasn't sure if the device was doing much good, until I went up to the parking lot and realized it was much worse outside.  I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's weather.