Friday, November 24, 2006
Sunday, November 5, 2006
An Oval, a Circle and a Beak
Renowned artist and author David Allen Sibley visited for the weekend at the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg, PA. We have carried his guides to birding with us for years and, until recently, that was no easy feat in the field.
Things started off well as Maga11, RGBisMe and I met Tracdc at the nature center. We had each paid our fee of $75.00 a person quite a while ago so our expectations and anticipation had risen to a fevered pitch. We all had our drawing pads, new or freshly sharpened pencils and our brains shifted into bird topography gear.
We found out that the class description had changed since we first signed up. It was now described as an "art lecture" and had been opened up to 30 people as opposed to the 20 it had been originally limited too. Not quite the class we had imagined but we we still eager.
Mr. Sibley started out asking what level of knowledge the class had and what we were interested in. Maga11 and a couple of others piped up, "Details" and "Your secrets". As I wiped my sweaty palms, I was sure that these vocal artists had insured that the level of instruction was probably going to push my ability as a visual artist to it's limit.
The first subject was general bird shape and a quick understanding of the scrawny bird body. He then showed how the feathers filled out the typical song bird shape which could quickly be sketched out with an oval (for the body), a circle (the head), and a triangle as a beak. Then drawing a sparrow shape from the front, feather details were shown with a few basic details on how feathers lie on the bird's body and how a single feather helps to make up an entire pattern.
I knew the pace of theses details would soon pick up so I took a moment to draw the author. From the looks of the sketches around me it seemed I was seated in an area of some of the more remedial artists. I added color to my sketch of Mr. Sibley as they asked a few tedious questions.
One fellow wanted to focus on birds' feet and we took quite a while on the most basic of bird foot shape. After absorbing a very helpful clue about placing legs properly by finding the bird's center of balance, I got bored and drew a bird whose foot was gripping a lighted cigarette. Another lady wanted to know why we weren't drawing two eyes on a bird that was shown in profile. My finger still has red marks from biting it to keep from laughing out loud.
It was time to liven the party up. I threw out a question that sent the instructor into a 20 minute defense and description on Turkeys and their spurs. He was ill at ease with the stuffed turkey, it had spurs.
No, honestly, we then went on to do a brief study on wings and then adding action to bird drawings. I pulled out my bird guides as models and drew 3 or 4 as he carefully sketched out his oval, circle and beak. As the class drew to a close, he made a good tip of how a tilt of the head of raise of the tail could add a little tension and life to a drawing. I jotted those notes down and decided I better quickly draw his example to show what he was referring to. As I did my 30 second sketch of the drawing that took his the past 5 minutes to illustrate, he encouraged the class to do such drawings while watching their bird feeder. He noted that each drawing should only take 15 to 30 seconds, I chuckled inwardly.
We then dutifully lined up to have our books signed by the author. He is a talented artist, a gracious man but was set up to teach an impossible range of students in a limited amount of time. As Tracdc (whose ended up drawing a Sulfur Crested Cockatoo) said, "$75.00 sure is steep for learning to draw an oval, a circle and a beak." We sure are glad the money goes to fund the beautiful nature center.
Things started off well as Maga11, RGBisMe and I met Tracdc at the nature center. We had each paid our fee of $75.00 a person quite a while ago so our expectations and anticipation had risen to a fevered pitch. We all had our drawing pads, new or freshly sharpened pencils and our brains shifted into bird topography gear.
We found out that the class description had changed since we first signed up. It was now described as an "art lecture" and had been opened up to 30 people as opposed to the 20 it had been originally limited too. Not quite the class we had imagined but we we still eager.
Mr. Sibley started out asking what level of knowledge the class had and what we were interested in. Maga11 and a couple of others piped up, "Details" and "Your secrets". As I wiped my sweaty palms, I was sure that these vocal artists had insured that the level of instruction was probably going to push my ability as a visual artist to it's limit.
The first subject was general bird shape and a quick understanding of the scrawny bird body. He then showed how the feathers filled out the typical song bird shape which could quickly be sketched out with an oval (for the body), a circle (the head), and a triangle as a beak. Then drawing a sparrow shape from the front, feather details were shown with a few basic details on how feathers lie on the bird's body and how a single feather helps to make up an entire pattern.
I knew the pace of theses details would soon pick up so I took a moment to draw the author. From the looks of the sketches around me it seemed I was seated in an area of some of the more remedial artists. I added color to my sketch of Mr. Sibley as they asked a few tedious questions.
One fellow wanted to focus on birds' feet and we took quite a while on the most basic of bird foot shape. After absorbing a very helpful clue about placing legs properly by finding the bird's center of balance, I got bored and drew a bird whose foot was gripping a lighted cigarette. Another lady wanted to know why we weren't drawing two eyes on a bird that was shown in profile. My finger still has red marks from biting it to keep from laughing out loud.
It was time to liven the party up. I threw out a question that sent the instructor into a 20 minute defense and description on Turkeys and their spurs. He was ill at ease with the stuffed turkey, it had spurs.
No, honestly, we then went on to do a brief study on wings and then adding action to bird drawings. I pulled out my bird guides as models and drew 3 or 4 as he carefully sketched out his oval, circle and beak. As the class drew to a close, he made a good tip of how a tilt of the head of raise of the tail could add a little tension and life to a drawing. I jotted those notes down and decided I better quickly draw his example to show what he was referring to. As I did my 30 second sketch of the drawing that took his the past 5 minutes to illustrate, he encouraged the class to do such drawings while watching their bird feeder. He noted that each drawing should only take 15 to 30 seconds, I chuckled inwardly.
We then dutifully lined up to have our books signed by the author. He is a talented artist, a gracious man but was set up to teach an impossible range of students in a limited amount of time. As Tracdc (whose ended up drawing a Sulfur Crested Cockatoo) said, "$75.00 sure is steep for learning to draw an oval, a circle and a beak." We sure are glad the money goes to fund the beautiful nature center.
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Cat with Pareidolia
I am not sure if it is a sign of intelligence or stupidity but our cat sees faces in 2 dimensional objects. They are usually cat faces. I think I will start to list the ojects on this post and just add them in as we notice him Seymore:
Emily Strange Posse stuffed cat; Sabbath.
Nittany Lion Shrine (3-D but at least 10' long)
Characters on television
Emily Strange Posse Cat Hat with ears
Decorative life sized cloth cat
Carved Cat face on a Jack-o-lantern
Here's a blog post about another Pareidolic Cat.
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