Crealde Urban Sketching class

Posted on by Thor

My Crealde Urban Sketching class will be starting on October 23, 2022, just in time for the Halloween season. Each class begins with a premise that help build towards students completing a sketch in two hour time. We cover perspective, composition, placing people in the scene and much more. For some this is the first time using a sketchbook to document the world around them.

Crealde School of Art has now broken the course into two groups. The first intermediate group is a beginning series of classes that covers the basics needed to complete a sketch. All these classes take place on the Crealde campus, usually outside.

A new series of classes for more advanced students ha been introduced which will be for students who took the first course and want to take on more challenging subject matter. These classes will meet at various locations around Orlando. In these classes students will get used to the notion that people might look over their shoulder as they sketch.

Check out the Crealde web site if you are interested in joining us for Urban Sketching: Tips and Techniques.

Crealde Panorama 2

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On Sunday mornings I teach an Urban Sketching Class at Crealde School of Art. For this class I had students doing nine thumbnail sized sketcher per page. This sketch is essentially three thumbnails sketches stitched together to create a panorama. This was the second sketch of the series of sketches I did. Since the start of the pandemic I have become a bit forgetful about carrying my art supply bag with me everywhere I go. Before the pandemic I was sketching on location every day but now I might sketch on location once a week, spending most of my time working isolated in the studio. In this case I went to move a car in the driveway so I could drive my seldom used Prius to Crealde and I forgot my bag in the car that I had moved.

So for this series of sketches I found a single pencil and drew on the table cloth paper that is in a roll in the classroom. So the sketches might be thumbnails but the paper is probably twenty four inches across. I could not resist using those full twenty four inches to sketch on.

There were some really spectacular results in the thumbnails produced in this class. Each student draws in their own style, my goal is never to influence how they sketch of apply paint. Instead I offer suggestions on how to take in more of the scene in front of them. The challenge is to offer each student what they need to progress to the next level, so after a brief introduction of the day’s premise I then walk from student to student and offer one on one feedback usually in the form of a sketch.

At the beginning of this series of classes only one student wore a mask. Now three students wear a mask at least when inside. I always wear a mask since I never know when a student might approach with a question. I don’t mind being the odd man out, I always have been and I am well aware that this pandemic is far from over. Many people seem too choose ignorance and hope as a reaction to the pandemic. Hope is not a solution, simple measures like wearing a mask getting vaccinated and social distancing are.

Monochrome Thumbnails

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At my Sunday morning Crealde Urban Sketching class I often have the students to a page of monochrome thumbnails drawings. Most students get caught up in trying to mix just the right color when doing watercolors over thir sketch and this exercise helps them realize that how dark and light the washes are is of far greater importance.

This sketch was done back in 2020 when masks were still required at Crealde. I continue to wear my KN95 mask both indoors and outdoors when at Crealde. With this latest series of classes just one student also wore a mask. As BA5 cases rose this last week two more students chose to wear masks in class.

With summer fast approaching it is becoming harder to justify holding every class outside. I had one student outside who sat with no cover when the sun was behind a cloud. After 15 minutes she was in the blazing sunlight and barely able to see the brilliant white page she was working on. I encouraged her to seek cover and keep the people she had sketched and incorporate a different background. She pulled it off very successfully.

Most of my sketches done on location inn Orlando have been inside air conditioned venues, precisely because of the heat. Last weekend we sketched indoors and it was amazing to see how different everyone’s sketch was.

Crealde Thumbnails

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After several classes on perspective and composition, my Sunday morning Crealde School of Art Urban Sketching students are tasked each class in creating a page of thumbnail sketches that offer a visual tour of the campus. I often do a brief set of my own as I wander the campus and offer notes for each student. In this case I just worked in back and white to demonstrate how to cut up the image into a set of large simple dark and light shapes. In one sketch I was demonstrating that the sidewalk and grass can be very much the same light value since they are both illuminated by very bright sunlight.

The challenge of the exercise is to try and make it look like you are walking along the paths and the same objects might appear small and then larger as you approach them. Students also find that the much smaller sketches can be completed faster since large washes of watercolor are not needed to cover the sketch. Much smaller puddles of wash are easy to add with the pointy tipped water brushes many students have in their kit.

The other basic lesson is that a light object will show up best if there is something dark behind it and a dark object will appear best if there is something light behind it. These thumbnails basically use just 3 values, black, white and grey. That is all that is needed to get a sketch to jump off the page.

Crealde Urban Sketching First Class

Posted on by Thor

At Crealde School of Art we started a new series of Urban Sketching Classes on Sunday mornings. I have kept the first two classes outside. Surprisingly the class is full with nine students. My first lessons are about using perspective when drawing on location.

The first assignment is for the students to draw a tent out behind Crealde. Everyone stayed under the back awning crowded together, so I decided to sit under the tent to give them one person for them to include in their sketch.

I shared each stage of this sketch as it was completed and also gave each student sketch notes to help them with their sketch in progress.

One other student wore a mask and I wore mine outside since I would get close to student to offer notes and suggestions. My mantra throughout was for students to make a mess. I certainly made a mess of this sketch which was done in an ancient sketchbook filled with tissue paper. Since my attention was focused on the student, I didn’t take any time to focus on details.

Crealde First Class

Posted on by Thor

On Sundays I teach an Urban Sketching Class at Crealde School of Art. From the very first class I encourage the students to explore the beautiful campus with their sketchbooks.

In each class I press a particular point and rather quickly get the students to apply the concept in their sketches for the day.

I sketch while they work and share each stage of my sketch to show how long I take on each step of the process. As I walk around I give each student individual attention usually doing thumbnail sketches on the back of my sketch to express how I might tackle the scene they are working on.

This sketch was done back when masks were required at Crealde. That requirement has been dropped, but I remain masked in public at all times. When sketching people will often approach to see the work in progress. They never seem to stop when the line work is being done, but once color hits the page, people become curious.

My last series of classes was canceled because not enough students signed up. That should give me a breather as COVID cases are rising in Florida again. I haven’t experienced a classroom full of unmasked students yet.

Students Working

Posted on by Thor

At Crealde I almost always sketch while my students are working on their sketches. I am fascinated by the gestures artists take as they create. One class of each of my 6 classes is held in the classroom and sometimes it is impossible to keep students 6 feet apart.

The more students I have, the harder it is to keep them safe. I always leave the classroom door open hoping to get a cross breeze.

I am certain this class would have been about perspective and fitting several fellow students into a sketch. As students sketch I pay attention to how much they look at the world around them as opposed to looking at the page. Part of my challenge to get them to accept what they produce without judgement. I am always delighted by the variety of work produced.

My next series of Crealde Urban Sketching classes starts up June 19, 2022.

Required Supplies include but are not limited to…

#2 pencil with an eraser, 05 and 08 micron pens, Stillman and Birn 9 x 12 inch spiral bound sketchbook (Alpha or Epsion series), Travel sized watercolor pallet (mine is a Windsor Newton with 14 color pans), Pentel water brush (water goes in the handle), Black Prismacolor pencil, Compact artist stool

Pandemic Pose

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One each series of classes at Crealde School of Art we focus on drawing people and I have the students each take a 5 minute pose. My goal in doing a five minute demo is to show them how to quickly block in a pose and add watercolor as well to tie it together. Sometimes I run out of time but I will keep throwing color washes on the page as the next pose starts.

Each pose is like a race, trying to get enough information on the page in the time allotted. Not every student can finish a pose in five minutes but at least they know it is possible. If there aren’t many students then we branch off and start sketching on property. They are encouraged to sketch fellow students and hopefully the proportions and lesson on gesture is enough to get them to give it a try.

Last weekend my students did an amazing job of sketching smaller pieces on property. Each student finished about half of a page worth of sketches and we will resume right where they left off. This teaches them that direct observation is always desired and you can return to a site as often as you like. Just look how often Monet painted a hay stack.

Once the world opens back up after the pandemic, my students will be ready to document life in their sketchbooks as a potential roaring 20s era begins. I am teaching them to be sloppy and spontaneous as they sketch everyday events.

Crealde Class

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On Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 12:30 I am teaching an Urban Sketching class at Crealde School of Art. Last week we focused on drawing people by sketching each other.

This demo sketch was done to show how to block in figures and make them feel well grounded to the chair they are sitting in. The basic premise is to draw the chair and then draw the person seated in the chair.

The sketches were just 5 minutes in duration and I was showing how watercolor can be used to also block in masses quickly,

I modeled to start taking several longer 10 minute poses to get the students started. Then each student posed for 5 minutes while we all sketched. It was raining, so we worked indoors.

I was quite proud that all my students kept their focus and got n impressive amount of work done in the time we had.

At this point I was suggesting that the students get one or two figures on the page but by the end of class we were again sketching the entire scene.

Crealde: Sketching the Tent

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For the second Urban Sketching Class at Crealde School of Art, we reviewed one point perspective and discussed two point perspective for blocking in a scene. For the first class we were indoors since it was so cold outside but this week we ventured outside where it was a bit chilly but tolerable.

I did drawing on a chalkboard on this back porch area and then asked everyone to turn around and draw the tent behind us. The only goal was to fit the tent on the page as best as possible.

This demo sketch which I walked around at each stage of it’s progression pointed out that the tent does not need to fill the page. I decided it just needed to fill half the sketch while the students in the foreground became the real center of interest for the story.

I had them commit to the sketch they were doing by using pencil to plan, then pen and ink to commit and finally watercolor. The challenge is always to get students to truly spend the time to develop a sketch towards becoming a painting. There are some real talents in this class and they are soaking up concepts I throw their way quickly. As the world returns to a new normal they will have a new tool (the sketchbook) to explore it with.

I am still working in an ancient sketchbook with horrible thin paper, but that means I can make a mess and not worry too much about the result.