We had not done any straight drawing for awhile and so I decided to bring out the charcoals for this and the elementary class to explore. The students were begging me to bring down my parakeet for a visit but his new cage is huge and a bit of a hassle to carry. When they realized that Parapete the parakeet would not be making a visit, the girls quickly changed their tune and began asking if I would bring my 13 year old dog down, Buddy, for them to draw.
Much easier for me to manage as never has there been a more easy going dog who is happy to honor any request I make of him. And so down he came to the studio and after receiving copious amounts of pets from each student, settled down on a blanket and was happy to model for a drawing prompt with charcoal.
buddy
The students started by just rubbing the charcoal over their entire paper and rubbing it in to create a toned base.
12 year old
Then each student quickly laid down some shapes to form the composition of their model and afterwards used a gummy eraser to take out the highlights.
10 year old
Once they had finished erasing, the students used the white chalk I provided and went over the erased areas, then using a blender stick rubbed it into the paper to create a value of grey.
11 year old
12 year old
From that point on, they just alternated between the white chalk, the charcoal and the eraser until they were happy with their artwork as a finished piece.
11 year old
When the students stated they were done, I suggested they spend a little time on the background. Either lightening it up or darkening it to enhance their portraits of Buddy.
Believe it or not, they finished these drawing with 45 minutes to spare! But no worries, it was a great opportunity for them to take the skills they had just practiced and put it into a drawing of their own choice. At this point, there was very little direction needed from me at all. I was truly able to just enjoy sitting at the table chatting with the students while they enjoyed the evening lost in drawing.
Look at these final creations! They are quite amazing.
"george" age 12
I did bring out some actual colored pastel paper I had in the studio for the students to try with their second drawing. There was grey, beige, orange, blue and white in the pad for them to choose from and a couple of the students did decide just to stick with white. The above drawing is the student's own dog whose picture I have in the reference file for dogs from previous projects she has created using him as a subject.
12 year old
This student was not sure what she wanted to draw at the beginning and so I showed her some of Emily Carr's charcoal drawings and one in particular caught her attention and inspired this lovely wooded composition.
10 year old
The above student is quite enthralled with wolves and uses them as her subject matter at every opportunity. Her passion for wolves seemed to have been contagious as the below student, who usually focuses on horses, also created a beautiful wolf drawing too.
12 year old
And I smile every time I look at the way this artist set up her portrait of a cat.
10 year old
So clever how the artist decided to have the cat laying on it's side for a portrait.
11 year old
And I am absolutely drawn to the moodiness the blue paper added to this deer drawing. I think it is quite arresting.
Although the students all looked like chimney sweeps by the end of class, they had all enjoyed each other's company in a relaxed atmosphere of drawing. Personally I was a little sad to see the night end as I will miss seeing the students while closed until May, but am looking forward to opening up once more and seeing what other beautiful creations they will make then!
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