Anna had promised us we would be drawing fabric. She was not kidding. She started the class off with warm-up drawing exercises. We had a 2 minutes to draw each of the four (4) different fabric drapes on her dress form. Anna draped fabric on the dress form and waited for us to finish our drawing. She then switched the fabric around and we continued from there.
Here’s my version of the warm-up exercises:
For our still life project, Anna placed a dress on her dress form. She carefully planned out the folds. We also worked from standing easels and taped our papers to a backing board. I rearranged my easel a few times to figure out what was comfortable standing position and composition (view) of the dress form. See, I am learning.
We picked out our charcoal supplies and brought them back to our easel. It did not take long for me to start drawing the dress.
I love fashion. One of my past hobbies used to be sewing. Not just pillows and sewing hems on my pants, but sewing clothes for myself. I love the feel of different fabrics (just like I enjoy touching and feeling the different artist papers). So being able to draw fabric is very close to my heart.
For my next drawing I used vine charcoal to do a rough sketch and outline of the still life. I then used the compressed charcoal to darken and deepen the folds of the dress and also to create the ruffles around the neckline. To get the softer look, I used vine charcoal and the cottony paper towel to soften the look.
Anna is really pushing the creative side of my brain. I am also raising the bar a bit for the class without them knowing it. I can see the huge improvements from other students from the beginning of this week’s class to now.
Tomorrow night, we are in for a surprise. Can’t wait!
Paper used: Strathmore (300 series) drawing paper
My take away from class: do loose warm-up drawings and mostly enjoy myself while I draw.
SusieG Studio 