I like to start the year with observational drawing in the Advanced Drawing & Painting class so that I can access everyone’s skills and we can work with techniques that we don’t focus on when first beginning drawing in the lower level classes. We study the works of Dutch Golden age painters and the use of symbolism in the objects used and then I have groups of students set-up their own still life’s, working with more difficult objects such as glass and skulls, to create interesting angles and symbolic combinations. Students learn to find accurate proportions while loosely drawing with vine charcoal and then learn to gradually add a range of value starting with the darkest shadows first. Then students begin to add more shading with the choice of adding color and we discuss adding light to areas using reductive “drawing” with a kneaded eraser.
Jess Nash Art 