|
Beginning Art...Playing the piano
No Talent Required. Why does everyone assume drawing and painting require talent and that a "talented" person finds everything in art to be easy - like waving a magic wand? Learning to draw and paint is no different than learning to play the piano. It requires dedication and hard work. No one is expected to have talent before they take piano lessons. Learning to read music and translate that to the keyboard is no different than learning to read shapes and learning to apply them to paper or a canvas. Believe me - if i can do it, you can do it. The first step Before you learn to paint, you must have good drawing skills. All the students on my website have taken my Beginning Art class whether it was at Assabet After Dark or at my studio in Worcester, MA. The basics
Learning to see like an artist is learning to retrain your brain. Therefore we do drawing exercises that help us learn to "see." Talent is not required. How to hold the pencil, what kind of sketchpad to use, little tools to help along the beginning artist's path. |
|
Perspective
Always a challenge for Beginning Artists. By learning to use our artists' tools to help us "see" like an artist, drawing and painting perspective begins to feel more natural. Once perspective is mastered, nothing can stand in the way of drawing anything! Portrait and Still Life At the end of my 10 week course of Beginning art, you will be drawing from Master Drawing portraits and doing still life in class. Using the tools required to see, practicing and working to replace negative self-talk, you will not believe what you can accomplish. Students come to me with that "deer in the headlights" look. When they leave, if they have applied themselves and followed instruction, they are able to sketch, do perspective, experiment with color and see the world in a very different way. |
|
How this class came to be
Beginning Art is the direct result of all my long years trying to learn to draw and paint. Talent certainly did not manifest itself in any of the required art classes I took in college (Pratt Institute). In fact, my work was often held up as what Not to do!!! But I loved how I felt when I did art. And, slowly I got better. When I was age 35, I thought is was time to find what I would be when I grew up. Took a career counseling course at the WMCA in Natick, MA. After a few tests the results were astonishing! I was an artist. Could have bowled me over with a feather. After all my years of doing it wrong - there was a ray of hope. So, with my career counselor, we designed Beginning Art, a class for people like me who never had the basics but always wanted to learn to draw and paint using Betty Edwards book: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The first class started in 1986 and eventually evolved into an add-on painting class that my Keefe Tech (Framingham, MA) Beginning Art graduates insisted I teach. Now there are classes at my house in Worcester, MA and a couple semesters each year at Assabet Valley After Dark in Marlboro, MA. The Beginning Art classes start at the beginning! What kind of pencil to buy, what kind of sketch pad, how to hold the pencil. Each week we build on skills that help the student learn to "see" like an artist. After taking my 10 week Beginning Art class, my students can do what it took me 10 years to learn. Seriously! You don't need talent to do this just like you don't need talent to learn to play the piano. What you do need is a good sense of humor, a great deal of patience and a willingness to learn. If you don't believe me....... ......read my book, "No Talent Required: from Paint by Numbers to Art Instructor." If I can do it - so can you. Hope to see you in class. |
"The Aunt"
My Dad's baby sister, Charlotte Bassett
My Dad's baby sister, Charlotte Bassett