Dreaming of Provence on a Snowy Day

View from my studio window

While it was snowing all day, a friend came over

and we shared stories of travel in Provence.

My past travel, her upcoming trip.

St. Rémy de Provence, a view par la fenêtre du Musée Estrine.

That was the trip on which I didn't bring my camera, 

but I did fill 2 sketch journals. 

A little drawing, 4 X 6" made this morning 

from the initial sketch.

Blogger La Table de Nana has been posting photos

of her last trip to Provence. She loves it there,

but then again, she finds & shows beauty wherever she is. 

Click here to visit her exquisite blog.

Art Learning Journal: Studying Masters

More notes from my Art Learning Journal.

From the book, Matisse in the Studio:

A catalogue of an MFA, Boston show that I missed.

There is a great value in sketching works of art,

using books or visiting museums.

I notice so many aspects 

that I miss when I look without drawing.

We public art teachers were guided to teach in the 80's-90's 

by always starting with a lesson on a famous artist, 

 & analysis of reproductions of his/her work. 

Followed by hands on art.

And we made field trips to our art museum,

where students made visual notes, 

went on searches, & answered specific questions.

The book, Teaching Drawing From Art

has many rationals for teaching drawing to young people,

& for integrating fine art into lessons.

It tells us that students need to learn 

by their own experimentation,

& by studying great & varied sources of fine art.

When I taught this way, I gave room for individual invention within a style or medium. 

It wasn't just copying, oh no. 

But do I think ALL lessons should be started with fine art? NO!

An invented scene, after I took visual notes from Matisse's paintings.

If you Google: "Matisse/ Interiors in Nice/ Images"

you'll find an amazing assortment of his paintings, 

in which he integrated objects from his extensive collections

 into complex scenes.

And oh! Note his use of color!

He was a "modernist" which meant he avoided 

the "conventions of modeling, perspective & recession".

(Though I think they are somewhat present.) 

He uses a "shifting space with push & pull 

between the elements".

He thought of his own studio as a theater.

Me, I'm also captivated by the scenes that 

were outside of Matisse's windows. 

                    

And outside windows in my own life. 

(This scene, March 5, 2015. It's similiar to today's view!)

Next for the Art Learning Journal: 

Cartooning: Philosophy & Practice by Ivan Bruneti. 

Discovering Popcorn

I tried to eat popcorn (again), but it still makes me sick.

So I drew popcorn instead. 

First, observational studies for accuracy, with lots of erasing.

(not shown here.)

Then, loose sketches. Interpretations.

Feeling the Popcornness. 

Delighting in the gesture, form, contours, miracles & science

of popcorn.

All the while, related thoughts popped onto my paper: 

Discoveries & connections, while spending a slow,

lengthy time with these 3 guys.

Turkey Tail Fungus:

Years ago, an assignment in undergradutate drawing class:

To magnify an object, to try to reproduce it

as precisely as possible. 

I remember spending hours on it.

I also made a magnified study in charcoal

of a broken peanut shell.

I can't find the drawing, 

but I loved getting to know that shell, 

with its repetitive pattern of miniature rectalinear shapes,

& the surprise discovery of skeletal fibers.

The fast sketch, my favorite mode, benefits well

from going back to slower forms of drawing.