Pastels from Monday Morning Drawing Cl

"Pitcher and Floribunda Roses"
12" x 16" Pastel

Since 2007,  every Monday when I am not traveling, I attend a three hour drawing class by Robert Semans, a master artist for the past 40 years. This particular piece was a setup I brought to class, using a pitcher I bought in England and Floribunda Roses blooming in my back yard. Bob says we paint the light, and I believe I managed that with the dark shadows, reflected light, and highlights.

"Tis Fall"
12" by 16" Pastel

In the fall, some of our favorite still life subjects include the pumpkins, gourds, and corn available at our farm stands. The pumpkin on the left was very interesting with its imperfections. I like that I introduce a touch of green into the dark drape.

"Cabbage, Anyone?
12" x 16" Pastel

When Bob wants us to really focus on creating three-dimensional objects, he will have us do just one. Cabbages and onions are particularly popular with their layers, odd shapes, and the subtle way they pick up the light and shadow.

"In the Kitchen"
12" x 16" Pastel

Friend Susan brought this setup from her kitchen. We enjoy doing glass and it is always a challenge. Here we had transparent, opaque, and a jelly jar with contents. The orange of the Mandarins nicely balance the neutral shades and the colors in the jelly jar. As Bob will tell us, light is everything. Note the various highlights that help suggest the shape of the objects.

Now, sadly, we are losing our class venue. University Arts  store is closing it's San Jose store in early May after 70 years in business. The company owns the building and can make more from leasing the space to the motorcycle dealers that rent a portion of the building, than from selling art. As they explained, even the vendors are now competing with them online. Privately we heard that Corporate dismissed the idea of selling online early in the internet revolution. a bad decision.  Thus, the employees who don't want to move to a store an hour away are without jobs. This leaves us with just two Aaron Brothers Art stores as the only brick and dedicated motor art stores  in Santa Clara Valley, home to abut 2 million people. University Arts was superior to anything that remains. Our instructor is looking for a new venue for our group. We old faithfuls are so bonded with each other and want to continue improving our drawing skills. No other class has helped me as much with my art in all mediums.

Monday Morning Drawing Class: The German Beer Stein

"Octoberfest"
15" x 15" Pastel

Drawing instructor Bob Semans brought in a beautiful beer stein and fruit. Usually I do a pastel in a single morning, but this one took two. The design was a challenge and though it looks complex, I simplified it quite a bit. As always, values are everything in making a successful drawing or painting.

Monday Morning Pastel: Susan's Roses

"Susan's Roses"
12" x 14" Pastel



The traveler is back and I attended Monday drawing class last week. Friend Susan brought in some lovely roses and an interesting pitcher. Instructor Bob paired it with a lovely drape and good lighting. With just a few hints from the instructor and some work after at home, I was able to complete this one to my satisfaction. I find floral bouquets in pastel quite the challenge. How to suggest without doing every pedal? It's all about values and edges.  

A Melon Monday

 

"Melon"

10" x 12" Pastel

 

 

Bob decided to go simple so we could really "dig into" the finer shading and rendering. Unfortunately, this photo is not quite true to the color and I am not that good at Photoshop. I really enjoyed this exercise. In less than three hours on a Monday, it's difficult to get to more than the basics on a more complex setup. So this gave us the opportunity to work on the melon surface.

Susan's Pitcher at Monday Morning Drawing Class

"Susan's Pitcher"
Unfinished Oastel

 

 

 

I have been attending Monday Morning Drawing Class whenever I'm in town, but I have been unable to finish anything so I have not been posting the pieces. I know that this will lie there in the stack unfinished, so I decided to show the part that is more done. There is actually the rest of the tray and a couple red onions to the left, but I only got to draw them.  There is a bit more table to the right, also. It was fun to do this piece. The finish on this old pitcher is wonderfully worn and a challenge to reproduce.

Monday Morning Drawing Class

"Artist at Work"
12" x 14" Pastel


Blog friend Sherri was worried about me when I hadn't posted for so long. We are doing so much travel lately that I've been remiss at art and at posting. I am back and here is a piece from before I left. This was a fun one to create. I loved the crackled finish on the pitcher, the well used brushes, and the motley collection of paint tubes. It was a real challenge, but very satisfying to do.

I promise to jump start my art this week and get back to blogging. Meanwhile, here is a little remembrance of our recent cruise through the Panama Canal. The crab was delicious at the Crab Shack event on our ship.

Eating at the Ship Crab Shack event
Somewhere off Mexico as we made our way to the Panama Canal

  

Chilling in Aruba
enroute from the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale

Monday Morning Drawing Class: A Modern Venus

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"A Modern Venus"
14" x 16" Pastel

 

My friend Susan and I have been wanting some life drawing experience. Of course, drawing the human body is a traditional exercise for artists through the ages. Our  class location within an art store precludes having a nude model. We paid our instructor for some private lessons with a model at his studio. We discovered, of course, that we have much to learn. We arranged for monthly sessions with Bob and a wonderful model who does a lot of work for San Jose State University's highly respected art department..

 

Meanwhile, instructor Bob Semans purchased two small clay figures, one male and one female, from an art supply company. These he can bring to our class. A few weeks ago I attempted the male figure. My drawing was fine, but not so much the shading, and I took so much time drawing that I got about half the pastel work done.

 

This week, I did the female figure with much more success, according to Bob. I am still internalizing what happens to the body when weight shifts. Bob always says draw from the inside out. So find the midline and build from there. Note the position of features in relationship to others. For example, from my point of view, the inner tops of the legs were below her right side of the neck. Her right hip fell just inside the outer edge of her right arm. The outermost point of her left hip is below the outermost point of her shoulder. Her naval is more to the right of the vertical halfway point. Bob calls this the science, not the art, of drawing. He enjoys teaching it and it is the key to success.

Monday Morning Drawing Class: A bag of fruit

"A Bag of Fruit"
14" x 12" Pastel

This morning Bob set up a plastic bag with apples, a plum, and a peach. I've never done plastic bags before and boy, this was a challenge. Three apples were mostly exposed and the three other fruits were in the bag. He says we will get to try wax paper next time.

Monday Morning Drawing Class: Hyderangeas

"Hyderangeas"

14" x 12" Pastel

 

Critique time

 

We enjoyed the setup today. Florals are a challenge. Instructor Bob Semans always emphasizes blocking in the values first, then going back and adding a bit of detail. You can see the drawing of the vase is off somewhat, but overall I like the painting.

 

Monday Morning Drawing Class: Winter Squash - oh wait, isn't it summer?

"Winter Squash Summer Style"

14" x 12" Pastel

Did this yesterday and there are things to fix. Bob pointed out the top plane should be higher key and warmer tones. Should model the light reflecting surfaces. However, he complimented us three oldies that we are getting better at this all the time.

Monday Morning Drawing Class: Sweet Peas in a lovely vase

"Sweetpeas"
14" x 12" Pastel


In case you thought I quit my longstanding Monday drawing class, I have not. Classmate Mary provided a beautiful vase and Sweet Peas from her garden. We spent two Monday mornings on this drawing, and it was a challenge in many ways, not the least of which was a whole new arrangement on the second Monday because bouquets don't last a week.

Three of us worked on this setup while Bob was spending a good deal of time with new folks in the class. However, at critical points we requested some help and critique. For florals, Bob emphasizes masses of values, rather than detail. Be sure to push the lights, mostly on the right of this bouquet. Make the most of your darks, as seen at the top of the vase and in the dark greens of the leaves. Pump up those highlights. It's all about values.

Monday Morning Pastel Drawing and a Great Party

"Pitcher with Fruit"

12" x 14" Pastel

 

I was quite pleased as I worked on this that Bob  just gave me one little suggestion and moved on. He often will sit down and work a bit on a trouble spot to point us in the right direction. I think I learned a little more about rendering with last week's work with black on white on a single apple. Bob often takes us back to the basics. The tricky part is the transition areas between the core shadows and the areas receiving more direct light. Get it right and the subject will look three dimensional.

 

 

Green-yellow apple

Black conte

 

 

Red apple

Black conte

 

I attended the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society holiday party, which is always mid-January. This is an all volunteer effort and I can't say enough about how well they organized the event. Everyone is expected to help, so I joined the setup crew. 

 

SCVWS setup crew

 

The theme was "Breathing Plein Air." Hence the wonderful suns and clouds and the very creative center pieces. You see the beginning of the plein air display in the background. That includes paintings done plein air and many travel/plein air journals. I displayed two works from Croatia and one done with our paintsites group.

 

 

Centerpieces: Sit down and paint the beautiful California landscape!



 

 

We rent space, so bulletin boards needed some work. Friend and fellow critique group member Linda  did these wonderful paintings featuring artists  outdoors. The left one is a David Hockney-esque approach using an I-Pad. (Many of us have seen the terrific Hockney exhibit at the DeYoung in San Francisco.) The right one honored our 49ers. The area is used for a painting exchange, a voluntary activity.

 



 

Artists at work on the community painting.

 

Friend Brad organized the community painting and was most creative. One featured many fish to paint. The other was circular forms. These are auctioned off along with donated paintings and other items. Friend Valerie did an amazing job of raising $1100 on the raffle to benefit a local school for disadvantaged children.

 

I chatted with friend Myrna Wacknov who just received her signature membership in AWS! 

Happy New Year

"Classic Beauty"

14" x 12" Pastel

This piece was completed in the final Monday morning drawing class just before Christmas. I hope to kickstart the New Year with a day of doing art. Things have been mighty hectic -- all our own doing of course.

Wishing you and yours a great 2014. Egad, is it really 2014 already?!!

Monday Morning Drawing: Turkish Treasures and Colandars

"Turkish Treasures"

14" x 12" Pastel

 

 

"Fall Cooking

14"" x 12" Pastel

Bob brought in this wonderful Turkish pitcher, the colendar, and fruit. This was something of a challenge to do. I had to put a few finishing touches on it at home with soft pastels. 

My Sennelier pastels arrived so I used them to finish "Fall Cooking" which I had started in the previous week's class. I won't be taking this 120 piece set of pastels to class because I have a tendency to fumble them and they land on the floor. That is never a happy experience. Bob tells me that I am turning out some nice pastels. I have finally learned that I do best if I use a dark pastel paper and immediately put in my background and the highlights. Then my values work better for me. One of my biggest challenges in pastels is getting enough chroma. I pick up what looks like the right color and it often lacks enough saturation strength. I'm learning, though.

 

We have had a cold streak here. I know that most of you live in colder areas than I and will have no sympathy! I would not either if I was in my native Vermont. I am debating my usual bike to gym and have talked myself out of it because it is 32 degrees. Below 32 I definitely drive the car, and its been in the twenties each morning when I leave the house before 6 a.m. We can get ice because the thermometer probably dipped lower.

Time to dig out the Christmas decorations as we have the Southbay Recorder Society, one of Bob's music groups, coming for their holiday party on Friday night. I get to be an audience and a host and look forward to enjoying the music.

Monday morning drawing class

"Fall Pears"

14" x 12" Pastel

The setup

Here is my Monday morning production. I really liked this still life. The lovely pottery vase was nicely complemented by the leaves and pears. I am always amazed that chalk can make a shiny object. With less than three hours to draw and paint this piece, instructor Bob Semans showed me how to quickly create the impression of leaves with simple strokes of the side of the pastel chalk. I like the texture and diffuse minor elements next to the carefully rendered vase and fruit. Unfortunately, I'm not a great photographer so colors and contrast are a bit off in spite of invoking Photoshop.You can see that our instructor is using a light box these days.

My pastels are generally NuPastel  Prismacolor which are rather hard sticks. The reason I chose them, as many in our class did, was because of price. Pastels can be very expensive. Sennelier can be $6.00 a stick! However, a couple years ago I saw that one of the online art suppliers had a modest set of Rembrandt soft pastels for a very reasonable price, so I bought them. I guess I wasn't experienced enough, because they did not work for me then, and I stored them away.

Monday I grabbed that box along with my NuPastels and mostly used the Rembrandt soft pastels. I found them amazingly easy to work with, which must mean I have developed more skill. Friend and accomplished pastelist, Judith, told me she loves Sennelier soft pastels, and  Dakota Art Pastels had a great deal on a box online. Now, we are still talking serious money, but I decided that this is my birthday present to me and ordered them. I triumph over another year of life on December 3, so let's celebrate!

Monday Morning Drawing Class with Buckeyes

"Pitcher and Buckeyes"

12' X 15" Pastel

 

 

A brief intermission from our travels to show you my Monday Morning drawing. I played with all the adjustment options, but the chroma is just not like the painting. Sorry about that as our instructor told me the pitcher is one of the best pastel objects I've done. I love the clay fired pitcher, a real beauty with natural burnt sienna and hints of green.

Wikipedia has some neat information on Buckeyes. The native Americans used the poisonous nut to stun fish. They also found a way to leach the toxin and use the nuts for making flour. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_californica



 

The tree should not be planted near aviaries as the toxin will kill the bees. 

Another Monday Drawing Class

 

"Copper Canister"

15" x 12" Pastel

 

 

The pastel color is off in this photo. The canister looks pretty reflective in the original. This was a fun challenge - values, reflective parts - we worked hard. I liked the way the peach was reflected in the cannister, the plum had reflected light from the lid and diffused the reflected light from the upper right. 

Monday Morning Drawing Class

 

"Mary's Green Vase"

 12" x 14" Pastel

 

I have not posted work for a long time from my weekly drawing class because I seldom have time to finish a piece, and I have missed quite a few Mondays with travel, visitors, and duties with the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society.

 

I actually finished this piece. We had several choices and I was attracted to Mary' small green vase with gardenias on a purple velvet cloth -- lovely contrasting colors. The most challenging part was the mass of blooms. I can get lost in the detail. Instructor Bob Semans always reminds us to squint and see the large shapes. There will be masses of light and shadow. Pay attention to the outer edges which will tell the viewer the mass is flowers. Not much detail is required in the individual blooms. Color temperature is important.

 

Bob will come by and say, "Can I sit down a minute?" That's a sign I need help. He did that near the end of this piece. He added a bit of warm color on the right, and more clearly defined a few of the petals on the edge. Bob is a wonderful artist and it's amazing how a few strokes of pastel by the master pops the entire painting.

 

The owner of the vase is expecting the birth of a grandchild in the midwest within a few weeks. She created a lovely small piece, matted it, and sent it to her daughter and son-in-law for the baby's room.



Fruit and Wine in Monday Morning Drawing Class

 

"Fruit and Wine"

 

 

The wine bottle was empty, by the way!

 

It took me two sessions to get to this point. Bob showed me how to create the glow in the left inner rim of the right goblet. Diffuse the light from the bright highlight to the lower light.

 

Much going on here and little time to post. Take care and I will return when I can.

Monday Morning Drawing Class

 

"Nature's Bounty"

14" 12" Pastel

 

We had a choice of several different still life setups. I liked the contrast of the lemons and tangerines against the lovely white bowl. Instructor Bob Semans directed some light on the subject to create some lovely form and cast shadows. He also helped me push those darks. He says we are all too timid.

 

This weekly drawing session is such a part of my life these days. The class meets at University Arts in downtown San Jose. I often ride my bike to light rail and then to the class, 16 miles from my home. We have a core set of artists who continue to take the class year after year. I believe I started in 2006. Dear friend Susan and I usually go to lunch after class. Sometimes others and our instructor join us. We have our own little mini support group, helping each other through life's challenges while sharing our art.