Crealde Urban Sketching Class

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My Crealde Urban Sketching students have this week’s class off because of Thanksgiving.  I have 3 talents student an we work outside doing sketches of the campus.

I always do several sketches as well to show them my approach. I work quickly so that I can spend plenty of time walking to each student and offer sketch suggestions. I offer insights on perspective composition and how to work quickly.

The student in this sketch returned for a second round of classes. As she explained, the first time she suspected some of the information washed over her. Explaining the principles is far different that applying the principles in each sketch. That is why we spend most of each class sketching.

From the first class each student does finished watercolor sketches. They quickly realize that covering a sketch page with watercolor washes takes more time that expected.  It is rewarding to teach adults since they are more in tuned with the idea of slowing down and taking their time to finish each sketch. My main challenge is always to give people the time to truly see. Society moves at a breakneck pace and an artist needs to slow down to put things down on the sketch page. When my students are working outside I allow them to unmask but ask that they put it back on when within 6 feet of anyone else. I have notice them forgetting to mask back up and when they do I stay at least 22 feet away. That is about 4 dead bodies lying bed to toe.

Tropical Tree Crealde

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On Sundays I teach Urban Sketching at Crealde School of Art. We spend most of our time outside sketching on the campus. This is the safest option to teach the class.

I did this sketch of Tropical Tree by John Walfe to demonstrate negative shapes in a sketch. Though the sculpture it the focus of the sketch, the pick up actually takes up more space o the page.

Rather than focusing on the trunk like yellow and green shapes I instead focused on the triangular shapes between the trunks. The same applied to the tree trunk in the background.

I also rushed this sketch to show that the paint does not have to be delicately applied to the sketch. I literally spattered paint and threw it at the page to create blunt rough textures.

I am always stressing perspective and making sure the viewer knows where the ground plane is. The cement base of the sculpture is the one hint about the ground plane while most other object are viewed rather straight on creating a flat image.

Crealde Thumbnails

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On Sundays I teach an Urban Sketching class at Crealde School of Art. We work outside on the campus to stay safe from the virus. Masks are required in the     classroom but they are voluntary outside. I just insist that students put on their mask if they get within six feet of another student or myself.

This class was about doing a series of small sketches that explore the campus. The goal was to get 9, 4 or in my case 3 sketches on the page. I encouraged the students to thing in terms of a cinematic panorama.

As always I stressed the importance of using perspective to make it clear how each thing in the sketch is planted on the ground plane. Shadows under any object also help plant it in the scene.

I have a super talented student this semester and I am just encouraging her to keep the sketches in her sketchbook oriented in a similar way so that anyone who pucks up the sketchbook and flips through will not need to turn the sketchbook upside down or sideways to experience the next page or spread.

All week I work in the studio doing horrific images each day that document the pandemic and peoples ignorance, so it is nice to take one day a week to feel the sun on my face and simply put pastoral scenes on the page. Gustave Klimt put it perfectly, “Art is a line around your thoughts.”

Lake Baldwin Dog Park

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Sketching class at Crealde School of Art branched off to sketch at Lake Baldwin Dog Park. It is only about a mile drive from the campus.

At Crealde I went over dog anatomy and showed them how to quickly sketch dogs from any animal from memory. The hope was that they could use what was learned to get dogs and their owners into a single sketch at the dog park.

After the dogs wrestle in the mud and splash in Lake Baldwin they often get a bath at this grooming station. Hoses are set up to spray the dogs down and owners often bring their own shampoos and lotions. On this day 50% of the owners were masked. Just keeping the dog on the platform is half of the battle.

Pam and I used to take Sprout and Donkey to this park rather often but we haven’t gone since the pandemic set in. On top of being around a bunch of mask less owners we realized that Sprout can not be run over by some larger dog while his leg heals from a knee surgery. He has been in isolation for several legs and he wears an inflatable Victorian collar that keeps him from licking his knee stitches.

This sketch demonstrated the basic principle I try and teach the students. I draw the stage and then add the actors. The setting is more important than the people who come and go while the sketch is in progress.

Crealde’ Urban Sketching

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Each Sunday I teach an Urban Sketching class at Crealde’ School of Art . I continue to hold the classes outside especially sine the weather is getting so nice as it cools down. My next series of six classes starts October 24, 2021. The class starts at 9:30Am until 12:30PM. The Crealde’ campus is dotted with statues and curving paths making it a wonderful place to explore visually in a sketchbook.

In this class the students were tasked with the idea of sketching the tent to give the impression that they were inside of a room. They were taught the principles of one point perspective and then set out to capture the space using pencil, pen and watercolor. The goal is to produced finished looking sketches right from day 1. It is a delight so see students slow down and experience the zen of truly observing their surroundings. We live in a time of constant digital distractions and sketching with old school pencil and paper strips students away form that hive mindset for a moment. The hope is that some will become addicted to the act of creation every day.

I always do a sketch along with the students so they can see how I approach each sketch. I share the initial block in, the pen and ink stage and the watercolor while sharing compositional thumbnails that point out things they can consider in their own sketch.

I am proud that Crealde’ continues to keep students and staff masked and safe. I insist that my students must wear a mask any time they are withing 6 feet of one another. Personally I wear a KN95 mask at all times and many students follow my example. The hospitalization numbers continue to drop in the United States so I we continue to maintain precautions the numbers can continue to drop. This class each week is the one day I get out of the studio to feel the breeze on my face and get some sunshine. Sharing my love of sketching is helping keep me sane through this pandemic.

Casa Feliz

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On May 13, 2021 the CDC had announced that fully vaccinated people can participate in many of the activities that they did before the pandemic.

I still refused to hold Crealde School of Art classes indoors choosing instead to take my students to outdoor sites to sketch. On this weekend we went to Casa Feliz in Winter Park.

My first lesson was to make sure you are always in the shade because the Florida sun can be hellish. Most of my students scattered to shady shops under trees but this student decided to sit on the stone wall around the back patio. Within 15 minuted she was baking in the sun.

No one wore masks outside but I wore my mask any time I approached a student. I approached this student and suggested she back up into the shade since the basic outlines of her sketch were established. Adding color to a sketch needn’t always be done in the exact spot where the sketch was started.

I had to do this sketch super fast since I spent most of my time visiting each student and offering feedback and suggestions. The backs of most of my sketches in this sketchbook have the rough sketches I did for each student to advise them on how to set up compositions.

On July 18, 2021 it was reported, that the latest Covid-19 hospital patients are unvaccinated and increasingly younger. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 1,008 daily coronavirus cases with just one week to go before the start of the Olympics.

Teaching in a Pandemic

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This summer I am teaching art seven days a week. Most of those classes are virtual. Summer courses have begun at Crealde School of Art. I have seven students but only five have shown up the past several weeks.

The first class, last week I held outside in an event tent that had been set up behind the campus. The morning started great but the heat was picking up by lunch time. One student found herself sitting in the direct sunlight when the clouds parted. She was a trooper and stuck it out to finish her sketch.

For week two I decided to hold a class inside at Crealde for the first time. I left the door open to allow some outdoor air to blow in but we got to experience air conditioning as we worked. One student kept her mask on the entire time which I deeply respect. I wore my mask around my neck as I gave the lesson plans since I have been fully vaccinated.

I recognize that being fully vaccinated does not make me impervious to COVID-19. There are breakthrough cases particularly with the Delta Variant igniting around the world.  The percentages presented a month ago were that fully vaccinated individuals are 95% safe from infection. However a study conducted in Israel found that half the people becoming infected were fully vaccinated. That means that the chances of becoming infected despite the vaccine went up to about 75%. So I’ve decided students should remain six feet apart when possible. I also kept myself well separated.

Each table is six feet long. I folded up any extra chairs and stacked them against the walls to reduce the chances that students would sit close together. Each student had their own table. In my sketch I put two students sitting at the same table but that is an artistic fabrication. I just wanted to squeeze one more student into the sketch for the sake of the demo. I did walk around and offer one on one advice to students, but for that, I flipped my mask up over my mouth and nose. I use sketches to do most of the talking, but the sketches stay in my own sketchbook. It was rewarding to see the students start to apply the ideas I offered.

Florida averages over 1600 new cases a day. The Delta variant has been confirmed to be in Central Florida as well. I paid attention to the air vents as I included them in my sketch. The air would circulate over students and then down the wall behind me. We are living in a grey transitional time. The Delta variant which doubles every to weeks will be the predominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States by August 2021 and another surge in cases is likely. Every day is a new risk assessment. Florida managed to have the highest case rates of any state yesterday, so there must be quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy in the Sunshine State. I went mask free for much of this class but my comfort level could change week to week as the pandemic continues to play out.

Pre-Pandemic: Baldwin Dog Park

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Pam and I used to take our dogs to the dog park almost every weekend. We haven’t gone to the dog park for a year now. I pass Baldwin Park every Sunday when I drive to Crealde School of Art to teach. I have seldom seen a mask as I drive by and I have made it a game to count the number of mask less mouth breather I see. The number usually exceeds 20 and I don’t count people facing away from me.

Now that Pam an I have our first shot of vaccine e are thinking forward to place we might go again when fully vaccinated. The dog park will certainly e one of those treks out into the world again. Our pups get to walk around the block fairly often and we go on weekend to much less crowded parks for careful distanced walks.

Pam is making plans to see family again. She used to visit her parents every holiday but hasn’t seen them in a year. We are also considering having house guests who have been fully vaccinated. Simple pleasure may once again be coming. I am even considering getting out to sketch outdoor theater so my sketchbook will once again fill with discoveries as I explore the world again.

Crealde Zoomscapes

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My Sunday morning Crealde School of Art Urban Sketching Class begins again on April 11, 2021.As of April 1, 2021 I will have had my second COVID-19 vaccine shot, so I will be more at ease. I will still follow all safety protocols like wearing a mask, maintaining my distance and washing my hands and wiping surfaces down religiously.

This sketch is from the class to demonstrate using thumbnail drawings to move an audience through a space. All classes have been held outdoors unless the weather keeps us inside. The primary point of the class is to get the students used to carrying a sketchbook everywhere they go and to fill it with simple daily direct observations.

I tend to seek out gatherings of people to include in my sketches and that has been put on hold for well over a year now. As the state opens to a new normal I am slowly venturing out with my sketchbook. In a week I will be sketching the Shakes performance of A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream at the Lake Eola Bandshell. When I first moved to Orlando I remember seeing a Shakespeare production at the bandshell. I am thankful that the Shakes if finding a way to keep theater alive through the pandemic.

The spring Crealde Urban Sketching Class was canceled since there was not enough interest among artists in sketching the world as it exists during the pandemic.

Casa Feliz

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I took my Urban Sketching students from Crealde School of Art to Casa Feliz in Winter Park to demonstrate using perspective to sketch a building on location. This sketch was done to show which visual clues to look for when trying to decide where a vanishing point would be on the sketch.

Casa Feliz was designed by James Gamble Rogers. The building was constructed in 1933 and has become known as Winter Park’s parlor. Prior to the pandemic, the music series hosted weekend concerts in the ground floor living room behind the blue bay windows in my sketch.

My intrepid students kept their masks on as they sketched, but driving down Park Avenue in Winter Park, very few residents wore masks.

On November 15, 2020 the United States had surpassed 10.8 million cases  and 245,000 deaths, as states continued to break daily records. Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine told CNN coronavirus “fatigue” was a serious problem. Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, said he was “terrified” about the imminent holiday season. “We’re going to see an unprecedented surge of cases following Thanksgiving this year, and if people don’t learn from Thanksgiving, we’re going to see it after Christmas as well,” Phillips said.