Another day, another attempt at orderly conduct.

Non sequitur: Yesterday I was talking to an artist I don't know that well, but at some point they assessed me as being polite. I have conflicted feelings about being referred to as polite. One- of course I am, and two- I'll scorch the earth we walk on within 2 seconds flat if I need to make a point. Nothing personal, I'm an Aries.

****

The studio is being taken over by a large painting for a corporate client. I have no shame. It's money. Money is good. Mondrian painted flowers for money. Plus, if I were to suddenly be like, "Hey, I'm working on this large painting, y'all, and it's so much fun painting large again, and I'm like all in love with those big brushstrokes and they're rocking my world again," you might wonder what happened to me swearing off large painting. So I tell you up front, I'm being paid to paint. We'll let it go at that. It would be better if there were a waiting list for my large paintings and THAT was why I was being paid to paint. (Anything is possible.) But it is without shame, that I report I love to paint and I consider myself lucky to be paid to do so with a certain amount of freedom. Plus I have this split-brain mentality that I'm able to successfully engage when working on this kind of work and it makes it all very factory-like. Timers, time-sheets, grids. It's all very organized. Eureka, it's Design! Gasp!

Drawing takes time.

My students did, for the most part, a kick-ass job on their value project. I'll be grading mid-term portfolios Monday and Tuesday, but by end of class yesterday, their approximately 7 to 8-hour drawing of a sphere, a cone, a box and some metal thing, under dramatic lighting looked very good. I used to be of the belief that anyone's drawing will look spectacular after 8 hours. I have discovered this is not true, but that's okay, an 8-hour drawing is still admirable no matter how awkward it is. The student above works quickly and had an excellent drawing by the end of the first day, yet she managed to put another 3 hours in on the second day. It shows.

THE LAT DAY OF SPRING SEMESTER. Effing A!

Student work from the color theory part of the Drawing Fundamentals class I taught this semester. (Lest anyone think I jumped ship and walked over to the dark side of representational painting.)













The beginning drawing curriculum calls for 12 hours of color theory. Some sections don't feel the need to teach color theory since students have other opportunities to pick up the basics (Beginning Design, Intro to Painting, Color Theory, to name a few) but big surprise, I love color and wet media, so of course, I'm going to teach it. This semester, I accidentally may have snuck in a a few more hours and justified it as value, composition or aerial/atmospheric perspective. I promise, it was an accident. I wasn't being subversive.

To keep me on my toes, I switch the media every semester or so, but it's either watercolor, gouache, color pencil or pastels. Natch, I prefer watercolor, but I'm leaning toward gouache and I've concluded it's easier to teach beginning drawing students who have no experience with paint whatsoever, how to paint AND demonstrate color skills in a mere 12 hours, more successfully with gouache rather than with watercolor. I thought watercolor would be easiest since I've been working with watercolor for about 30 years, but I've decided there are too many nuances to learn on top of the basics, and with only 12 hours to devote to color and a new media, I've settled on gouache.

After the obligatory color wheel, they painted a monochromatic still life. Next, we went outside and had a 5-hour plein air session of campus surroundings. Then for their final project, I let them choose their own props, arrange their own compositions (though I offered suggestions, where warranted) and basically let them do their own thing. I thought most of them did an excellent job of pulling all their drawing skills together, implementing successful paint handing AND depicting local color and values. Plus, a couple of them want to take some painting classes. I'm very proud of this class.

Oh right, did I mention the California budget cuts? I'm without a class beginning fall semester. If you know of anyone who's hiring, let me know.

Get your pre-flight separation cold-weather visiting mom for the holidays travel anxiety here NOW.

Yep. Today is the day I cast aside all my other identities and focus on being a daughter for the next few days.

Fun Facts:
I don't drink anymore, so getting loaded on the plane is out.
LAX to BNA is a 3-sharpie drawing flight.
I don't drink anymore, so getting loaded once I land is out.

Okay, that's enough of the fun facts.
My flight leaves this afternoon and I'm almost done packing. I have a hefty to-do list once I arrive, but it will get done. I need to shift focus and think about relaxing and being slightly social over the next few days.

Big surprise, I am slightly compulsive about making art. I always take my watercolor travel set and sharpies. I know what my next lino cut is going to be, so I can work on the sketches for that. I don't actually sketch, so that's just a phrase I'm loosely using. One of the sketches will BE the drawing. It's more a matter of spacing issues and which time I'll nail it without using a sissy ruler.

After Christmas, I will upload some new works to the Smaller Works site. Have been thinking about trying the eBay thing, but should first try sending out an email announcement telling people about the site. I also want to put some work priced in the $20-100 range but feel a little like I'm trying to have a fire sale when I think about pricing works simply to get them out of the flatfiles. Still, the flatfiles are full, so what the hell. Stay tuned for the fire sale, without the actual fire.

The Banana Guard

Ok, in keeping with still lives (freudian slip, I mean, lifes, still lifes, and such, I'm going to document my
lunch break during my Saturday drawing class this semester.

Bear with me while I hijack my art blog into a teaching resource blog.

I've been trolling for images for my drawing class and came across this site, called Tracey:

• Is the teaching of drawing distinct from the teaching of art and design?
• How much can a finished drawing tell us about its evolution?
• Should notions of composition, inter-relatedness and 'pictorial balance' be taught to students?
• Does the worth of the drawing reside in the viewer? Does it reside in the context of the production or use of the drawing?
• Do famous artists ever make lousy drawings? Who's going to tell them if they do?

I like questions. They're good.

Oh wait, I just found this one:

• Does representation have a magical function?

hehehe. That cracked me up.