studying flowers in drawing class

I am truly enjoying developing the drawing class on Friday.

One hour of drawing is a relaxing way to end the week with students and coming up with projects based solely on drawing has been both fun and challenging.

This past week I bought three different stems of flowers for class. I had the students start with graphite and their sketchbooks as we began to dissect the stems.

First they started with the leaves. I asked each child to really pay attention to what they saw and record it on the paper. They all had the opportunity to change to charcoal if they wanted and also use the eraser to add highlights and such.

7 year old

Then each child began to look at the flowers. There were three choices, but they all seemed to gravitate to a flower that looked a lot like thistle.

9 year old

There was a lot going on with this flower, the fuzzy middle, the finger-like petals, and the interesting leaves. The students created some lovely sketches.

10 year old

Then after they had done several sketches, I told them to each pick their favorite and come over to the studio floor where I had taped down very large pieces of drawing paper.

And I do mean large.

Hopefully you can get a sense of the size in relation to the real flower and the 9x12 sketching paper.

The students started with some charcoal I had taped on sticks. I had originally used them for the Matisse inspired trees done in December. Then they were able to go back in to add details, darks and lights, and erase until they were pleased.

7 year old, WIP

Working this large was a new experience for all of them and they seemed to really enjoy the process. The works were really stunning when created this large also.

10 year old

9 year old

It was enjoyable to watch both the children and their parents admire the finished pieces and although the objective of drawing class is not focused on finished artworks as much as sketching, I have no doubt some families will be going to buy poster frames for these works.

And I'll be going to buy another large roll of drawing paper to incorporate similar projects into the Spring Break camps I am currently planning! You can learn more about them on the website at KudzuStudio.com.