teaching art

This week I have been taking the students out to draw from life. That means coffee shops mostly in the winter. But what an amazing array of life you can see just sitting in a booth for a couple of hours. We've been talking about gesture drawing; quick, sweeping lines that describe the motion or stillness, curve of a neck, angle of a knee, the plane of the shoulders or hips. These drawings are not about details, they are rather about getting down the essential without getting distracted by the non-essential. It is a scary way to draw at first, as these aren't perfectly 'finished" drawings. But they are freeing and beautiful in their own way. It opens students up to begin to feel the drawing, to become the drawing. Eyes and hand working in sync - taking over and quieting "left brain" critical side.
So this week, go sit awhile at your favorite place. Wait for an 85 year old woman with a blue knit cap and white curls poking out of it, to come sit right in your line of sight, and eat a bowl of soup and a piece of bread with beautiful 85 year old hands. That's the gift I got this week. What will yours be?