Drawing Fundamentals

I recently completed my first drawing class.  It was a 6 week course taught at a local art league headquarters by a very enthusiastic artist named Eileen.  She taught us contour drawing and shading and I completed my first ever still-life drawings.  My favorite activity was drawing on mid-tone paper using both dark and white pencils.

My first still-life

I like using the white pencil

From this course I learned that drawing is not difficult in the way that I thought it was.  Seeing things like an artist is the challenging part.  Looking at a still-life and translating the shadows and colors into shades of grey (values) is what I find difficult.

I have signed up for another session of the course and I will be learning to draw with charcoal.  I’m not sure if I will like getting my hands all messy (as a child I hated having messy hands) but I am determined to try another medium in my continuing search for the area of art at which I am naturally gifted.  Perhaps I will never uncover my natural gift, assuming it exists of course, so I will enjoy the search and the little discoveries that come from it.

- christina