Tree Drawing Class at the Norton Simon Museum of Art

Last Friday I attended a tree drawing class taught by artist Jamie Sweetman.  I think trees and roots are really her passion.  If you'd like to take a look at her artwork, her website is here.

She said that it's natural for us to have a narrow cone of vision, but she suggested looking for the simple shapes first and looking at the negative space.  She said that sometimes if you draw everything it's boring and too complicated, sometimes you should only show some of what you're drawing.

My Sketch One

The main focus of this class was cross contour drawing.  Ingress described cross contour drawing as if an ant was dipped into ink and was following the form.  It's meant to describe the form and volume of the object with lines.  In my tree sketches, I tried to use cross contour lines.

Alex Ledante's Duckosaur

Artist Alex Ledante attended the class with me.  It's always interesting to me what different artists see when looking at the same object.  Both of us were looking at and drawing the same tree, but in it, Alex saw a duckosaur.  If you'd like to see more of his stellar art, visit his website here and his facebook page here.

She also likes cross hatching.  In shading she said that what is closest to you is lighter and that what goes back in space is a little darker.  She suggested starting with little strokes and then do larger ones and get a rythym going.  She said that mark making is like your hand writing and practicing strokes builds muscle memory.

My Sketch Two

She said that how to see and how to observe are key.  She suggested drawing observationally as often as possible, that drawing observationally from 3d objects strengthens skills more so than drawing from photographs.  She advised the more drawing that is done the better and that any kind of drawing helps even if not always drawing realistically.

This was the final class in a series of four classes, I very much enjoyed the series.  If you'd like to read about the prior ones, the Still Life Drawing Class is here, the Animal Drawing Class is here, and the Flower Drawing Class is here.


To view more Sunday Sketches, please visit:
http://www.bluechairdiaryillustrations.com/

I am also linking this post with Inspire Me Monday
http://www.create-with-joy.com/