Oxford Summer School - The show ain't over

...till the Fat Lady Sings.

Cathy, Debra, Yvonne, Cathy, Louise, and Susanna painted the fat lady in various poses.
I gave them no time to think, told them a little story, named poses, posed her as much a possible and it was just go,go go for a spontaneous painterly expression.They had to improvise a little as well. The Fat Lady is an old friend of mine from Cape Town and she usually stands in my sitting room. A quick shortcut to stylisation is to begin with a sculpture and paint it in such a way that you have made the artistic outcome your own. It also teaches you about the process of stylisation - exaggeration, adding pattern, avante garde colours etc.

And here is the outcome after dividing the A2 sheet and concertina-folding it.
This was a fun project and each person made up their own script to go with their books.

Debra Kaatz gave her fat lady rainbow wings.

Susanna Evans was really dreading having to paint so quickly and under such pressure but she certainly created a charming little book!

Share||

Oxford Summer School - Blind contour drawing

I love drawing the hand with the students. Hands are kind-of the ultimate in drawing. If you can draw your hand without it looking like a bunch of bananas, you can draw anything. We jump into the deep end with doing a blind countour drawing of the hand. This means that the artist doesn't look at his paper at all, but slowly draws all the contours and edges without lifting his pencil. The results are usually a very strong graphic image. 
Elizabeth Crowley explored her hand drawings by creating a concertina book.
She combined the drawings of various hand poses by willing models, with layering and collage using incidental text. This is an art form she has worked with, but her blind contour drawings were something new.
She'll complete the book at home.

Combining Text and Image:
Oliver Leech had begun a poem written by his son about a wren. His first rough which he brought with him was in Italic but he wasn't very happy with it. Monoline and pointed nibs are new to him and so is pen and ink drawing. He tightened up the bird / text image and ended up with some totally different ideas to work on. He will probably re-do the piece leaving a small even margin of white around the wren.

I think the wren project really explains my vision of combining text and image very well with related textural patterns or strong stylised shapes.

Barbara Williams was justifiably pleased with this drawing of her hand which she did straight after doing a blind contour drawing.
(Apologies for the quality of some of the photos - I didn't realise that the light was cast by tinted windows until after summer school, so couldn't re-take the pics.)

Share||

Oxford Summer school - funky birds & a warthog

Drawing words and writing pictures

Just how can we combine text and illustration to create an integrated design? This workshop is for calligraphers and would-be lettering artists to learn drawing skills combined with modern handwritten letters. Learning how to look, and enabling the right side of the brain can awaken drawing skills. We will create some exciting pieces of stylised work combining monoline lettering and drawing using various tools and techniques.

The less experience you have with drawing, the more you will enjoy this workshop! It can be scary stepping out into the unknown, but letting go of preconceptions about your ability can free your hidden ability. At the end of this workshop, most people are amazed at what they are able to produce.

I am really tired now after five intensive days of teaching.
This has been a lovely course to run as my students were enthusiastic and stuck to the rules and produced lovely work!
The rules were:

• The process (in your head) is more important than the product.
• No disclaimers about your work.
• Only give out positive energy and smile at your work.
• Trust the process.

The results were fantastic especially as many claimed to be non-artists and even non-calligraphers.

One of my passions is working with image and text. I believe that since text is essentially two-dimensional and pattern-like, the image works really well when it is a strong black and white stylised image. Printing techniques such as lino cuts or wood cuts work well, but there are many other routes to stylisation. Some of the processes used in learning how to draw, such as blind contour, semi blind contour or drawing directly with an unusual instrument (such as a kebab stick) can work really well.

Top to Bottom: Louise Brown, Mary White, Yvonne Leach, Cathy Park, Wendy Lord.

PS: See Friday's blog: Art in Action Best of the Best: The ceramics came third and the glass wave fourth. A marbled piece of silk about 6 meters in length was first and second place was a lovely wooden sounding bowl. 

---

Share||

Oxford Summer School - The crane flies

Top to bottom: Beryl Knotts, Oliver Leech, Viv Hanreck

Drawing Origami Cranes is a very good way of learning to draw flat planes in space using the pencil held up horizontally or vertically to help check the angles of the wings against an imagined vertical or horizontal. 

Participants block one eye to create monocular vision to 'flatten' the object and draw foreshortening correctly. This exercise is completed by using monoline lettering to write a piece of text that integrates and harmonises with the composition. I was delighted with the results!

One of my ongoing themes is the problem of how text and image can be combined to create an integrated artistic statement rather than a poem with a picture attached.

Share||

Oxford Summer school - 1000 cranes

I began my teaching course at Oxford summer school and we started by making origami cranes and hanging them in the class to draw tomorrow. This course is called Drawing words and writing pictures and drawing cranes offers the chance for great text and also the drawing of angles and spatial planes.

Sadako and The 1000 Cranes

Sadako Sasaki was twelve when she was diagnosed with leukemia as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima when she was two. A little friend told her that according to traditional folklore, if she could fold 1000 cranes – a Senbazuru - a wish would come true. She folded cranes using every bit of paper available and soon her ward was filled with origami cranes. She had folded more than 500 cranes when she died and her classmates completed the 1000 cranes which were buried with her.

In Hiroshima's Peace Park, there is a statue of Sadako holding a golden origami crane as a symbol of peace. Thousands of paper cranes from all around the world, are at the base of the statue and she is remembered on Peace Day on the 6th August every year.

I first heard Sadako's story when I saw it enacted as a string puppet show in Cape Town. The theatrical effect of hundreds of paper cranes was amazing.

While it may not seem relevant to start a drawing class with origami, I really believe that we need to inspire people on a visual and a spiritual level.

Postscript:  My Japanese students laughed at the elementary origami cranes we make - these are definitely primary school cranes and they make quite exotic complicated ones. Having taught origami today to people new to this art, I think its just as well that they are easy to make!

Share||

If you can write you can draw

Drawing words and writing pictures

Just how can we combine text and illustration to create an integrated design? This workshop is for calligraphers and would-be lettering artists to learn drawing skills combined with modern handwritten letters. 

Learning how to look, and enabling the right side of the brain can awaken drawing skills. We will create some exciting pieces of stylised work combining monoline lettering and drawing using various tools and techniques.

The less experience you have with drawing, the more you will enjoy this workshop! It can be scary stepping out into the unknown, but letting go of preconceptions about your ability can free your hidden ability. At the end of this workshop, most people are amazed at what they are able to produce.

There are still a couple of place at my Summer School workshop at Oxford Summer School. Tuesday 24 July to Saturday 28 July at St. Gregory the Great School

www.oxfordsummerschool.com

---

Share||