About

Monday, July 2, 2007

A Week of Art Class


"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures."
Henry Ward Beecher Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, 1887
US abolitionist & clergyman (1813 - 1887)

My older son took an Art class this past week and really learned a lot. The class was not about finger paints and playing with clay (which I think I would have enjoyed!), but rather an intensive art class for his age level. There were 5 students that spent 2 and half hours each day learning about shading, perspective, how to mix colors, how to work with oil sticks, charcoal and watercolor.
Here is a photo of my son on the last day of class (looking less than thrilled that I brought my camera), and his teachers.

The class was held at a local Art gallery Spotlight Gallery
and his teachers were professional artists who sell through this gallery:Anne
and Joyce.

According to my son, one teacher was carefree and wanted you to have your own style and the other was a little more strict in her thoughts on art and how it should be taught. So, it sounds like they made a balanced team!

They studied trees and drew landscapes~ keeping detail and depth in mind, they drew from a still life and they drew live subjects,~ other members of the class as well as the teachers. So they had a varied range of experience in drawing this week. Each drawing then was used in a painting. The one he was most proud of is his watercolor...(something he needs to teach me to do! I've never tried it.)

The last day of the class they worked on shading and each student and teacher took at turn as the model again. The teachers drew a shading of each student, so they each had a professional portrait to take home.
He really enjoyed his week and would like to take another one!...maybe there will be a parent /child class we could take together!

11 comments:

Lana Manis said...

Suzanne, I'm so glad Ethan enjoyed his lessons. I love his watercolor too ~ the mountains and water are so vibrant! Please tell him he did a great job!

Lana

Anonymous said...

Suzanne, tell him that his watercolor is quite wonderful! Very good! I'm glad he enjoyed his class so much. A parent/child class would be fun wouldn't it. I'd love to do one with my daughter too!

Manuela

Rachael Kinnison said...

He did GREAT Suzanne~ you must be sooo PROUD of him! How TOTALLY awsome that would be to get to take a class together the both of you~ bet you would each learn something from each other too!

Wendy said...

Suzanne, it is good that your son has taken an interest in the arts. His watercolor is brilliant!

Unknown said...

It sounds like Ethan had a great time! Yes, please tell him I love his watercolor! What a great idea!

SweetAnnee said...

The watercolor is great, Ethan must have inherited his mom's talent!!
Tell him I love his painting!
Deena

Lorraine said...

Looks like the paintbrush didn't fall too far from the easel.

Southern Heart said...

Suzanne, he did a wonderful job on that watercolor! I'm impressed wtih his talent (and lovely use of color!). I'm glad that he was able to learn so much in such a short time...sounds like a wonderful teaching team.

(My sons just *love* my camera, too....they thought I'd lost it when I started taking photos of their food! :)

Have a wonderful holiday,

Andrea

rosemary said...

Very talented young man you have there.

Chickadee Primitives said...

Like Mother like Son! Talented family you have miss Suzanne!

Hugs
Annie

Sylvia Anderson said...

Ethan's watercolor is beautiful....and I'm glad that he enjoyed his class! Sometimes we don't always agree with our teachers, but it's always nice to get a different perspective on things I think.