Elizabeth Reed - Trouvaille (Something lovely found by chance)

FINALLY!!!! Hands Hands Hands I will show you the anatomy of your lower arms, wrist and hands. You will understand the underlying basic shapes and proportions of your wrist, thumb and fingers. I will bring some of my anatomy books with incredible drawings. Please bring your sketchbooks, pencils and erasers and some tracing paper. I will bring a roll if you don't have any for class. Find pictures in magazines or photos of hands. Bring them to class. Try to find foreshortened views. (Yes, that F word!) We will be finding the shapes in the photos. You will be tracing the anatomy so you understand it when you observe your own hands. You are your best model. Perfect sketchbook fodder. Waiting for anything will never be boring again! See you Thursday! I will not be able to teach on 3/25. I am joining the board of National Association of Women Artists. One of their few board meetings lies on that thursday. Ink wash lessons were scheduled for this day. I will discuss an alternate day when

Antonym 2010 Graphite on Chinese silk chiffon over oil on mylar 12 x 12” These elegant white kid gloves float above a painting of my “working” hands. Is it wrong to boast never having had a manicure? My passion is to draw and paint and make things. I see these beautiful gloves that belonged to my Tu Tu as the opposite, antonym, of my own hands.

Famar 2010 Graphite on silk over oil on alumnimum with common sense snaps 12 x 12” Form follows funtion. I once met my dear friend, George Davis, every Sunday at one on the dot. We sailed his Cheoy Lee, “Famar,” on the Indian River off of Merritt Island and chatted about life, history and the state of the world. He was an ex-destroyer commander and sometimes it showed in his docking techniques. I have warm memories of this person. Superimposed above an abstract map of Florida and The Bahamian islands I spent so much time exploring is a drawing of his “FAMAR” reaching under spinnaker. Great man, great memories.

Gesture Gesture Gesture! First, Check out this incredible article from American Artist Drawing magazine by Patricia Hannaway. She is an animator and has an incredible handle on gesture. She draws "What the model is doing!" not what it looks like! http://www.artistdaily.com/blogs/pastel/archive/2008/05/07/patricia-a-hannaway-drawing-what-the-model-is-doing.aspx This is a link to the article. I will copy some of it for your records. Thursday will be a high energy day. Bring pencils or charcoal. I hope to get you off the tables and draw with an "extension pole" on very large craft paper. I will have to get permission from ArtServe to do this, but it is a great exercise. Gesture drawings are great for your sketchbooks too. Check out Patricia's web site too: http://www.patriciaahannaway.com/ I went up to the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach on friday. They are having a retrospective of Muriel Kaplan's work. She drew large figures on craft paper. So stunning

I am proud to be selected to show in, "Influence of Women in Art." Come join us for the opening March 2, 7 - 9 pm.

This thursday we will be making a self portraits. I will give you information about the proportions of your face. I have some small plastic mirrors for our class but if you have a good portable mirror please bring it for your own use. Pencil or charcoal are great for first sketches because they are easy to adjust. You will be very surprised how much a little knowledge will improve your skills. These are materials suggestions. You are welcome to bring any material with which you are comfortable. I will continue to reinforce value structure but proportions are key to success on this one. The value of figure drawing as a discipline for artists is that when you are wrong, you are sooooo wrong. We will also tackle glasses. Remember, your eye will connect the dots. Lines can be suggestions. Innumerable artists have painted their own image through out history. Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Dali, Frida Khalo and Chuck Close are just a few. We are our own best models and we are very inexpensive