One of the last classes of my Crealde Urban Sketching Class is held inside a Panera Bread on Aloma Avenue in Winter Park just a block from the school campus. The goal is to get the students familiar with sketching in a restaurant.
On a Sunday, Panera Bread has few customers in the early morning but as noon approach people start to arrive many from church. Some retirees are here every weekend it seems. Most people were on their digital devices. Only my students held paper pencils and pens. Since tables are set square to the room, this is often a lesson in one point perspective for my students. My sketch is sett up as a one point perspective with a hint of a second point off to the left off the page.
I move from student to student and kneel down to do thumbnail sketches helping them at any point that has them stumped at the time. My time working on this sketch is therefor limited. An older couple sat right in front of me. After they had eaten, I liked that they were both on their cell phones at the same time facing one another but speaking to others. It is a sign of our times. A digital divide.
When all our sketches were complete, we went outside and lined up all the sketches on a table. It is so rewarding to see the amazing variety of approaches each artist takes. Even though they were all given the same information to start, they each interpreted what I told them in their own way. This is what makes sketching from live so exciting. I am often asked, “do you take a photo and work from that?” NO! There is an energy that you get when working directly from life. It is that energy and excitement that I hope to share with the students. Granted sketching on location isn’t as popular at Crealde as ceramics, but the students how embrace sketching, will have a new way of interacting with the world.
Sign up for the next Crealde Urban Sketching classes which will start up in the spring. The winter class was canceled since no one signed up. Perhaps Florida students fear the cold. It is 56 degrees out there right now. Brrrr!