Personal Art Blog

Sharing the lessons I teach at the Artist Guild and the personal discoveries in my art.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Sunrise and Apple



Sunrise, Las Cruces, N.M.

How about this for a view to wake up to?
( from our deck.)

Artist Note.

It was my first day of classes in the new studio.
The focus was on testing memory against reality.

Everyone had to draw an apple from memory.
With every one's eyes closed I first led them through imagery
with shape, volume, details like stem, base, surface, etc.
Next step was to draw the apple created in their imagination.
The results were excellent and surprised the ones who thought they
could not draw anything unless they had something to copy from.
I then gave everyone an apple to paint as realistically
as they could. As they had already learned to fully explore
the essence of an apple, the results were pretty dramatic.
I then did a small demo of an apple with the emphasis on edges.
If I had done the demo first they would have been trying to
duplicate what I had done instead of being truly original.
The final step was to freely paint an apple in any color and style
they chose. It was fine to use the inspiration of the demo brush
and knife work to add to their previous accomplishments.
 It was a great session and I get a genuine high
seeing how well all the artists do.


This little apple demo was on edges.
Notice on the photo of the apple
below how the wall background color
was pretty even.
In the painting I varied the colors
and values to give a more interesting
and painterly effect.


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24 comments:

  1. What a fantastic sunrise. I can just see you sitting there with your coffee taking it all in.

    Glad you had a food first class today...is there anything you can't paint? :)

    Thanks for showing my blog too! Have a great evening Julie!

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    1. It is the time I sit and ponder the day ahead...and you are correct, Lisa, with coffee!!!

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  2. Beautiful sunrise and I believe those are the Organ Mountains....what a wonderful, inspiring view you have ! I love the variety in your work, Julie.

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  3. Fascinating.

    Your students are lucky.

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  4. Hi Julie, that is such an interesting exercise! I have no idea what my apple would look like, I must give it a try.

    That is one beautiful view you have!

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  5. Excellent instruction,Julie. Wish I could join one of your classes. I know I would learn, learn, learn!

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    1. You are like me - we both love to keep learning. Love your blog.

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  6. Julie, thank you for such a basic and fun demo. I am going to do it for sure. As artists, sometimes we jump into painting before enough drawing. Your demo is beautiful. Did you photo any of the student's work?
    Beautiful sunrise. It starts the day out right, giving thanks, doesn't it.

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    1. Hi Helen - no I didn't photograph the other pieces. I can ask them if they would mind for another time.

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  7. Beautiful sunrise!! I admit I'm not an early bird, so sunrises are usually something to watch in movies or photos :)
    Thank you so much for sharing the details of your class. I will definitely try the exercise.
    Warm regards.

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    1. Your drawing is really lovely.
      Thanks for the visit and kind comment.

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  8. Hello Julie:) What a nice exercise! Wish you showed the results from your students. Do they all have your beautiful style? Your apple looks great!

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    1. I will take photos the next time so you can see the results. They were pretty spectacular.

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  9. A superb image opens your wonderful post!
    It 's very nice to discover how you work with your students!
    An apple in your hand,Julie, becomes very special!
    Your students are lucky, but also us who follow Art Talk!
    I'll try to imagine and paint my apple!Thanks for share!!!

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    1. Hello Rita - thank you, my dear, for the lovely comment
      Your blog is so gorgeous.

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  10. What a beautiful sunrise!!! Sometimes, we have these gorgeous clouds by us that look like distant mountains..Ahh, how I miss it.! And I'm going to try to do this wonderful exercise with the apples..it would be interesting to see what I get!!!

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    1. Hi Hilda and thank you as always for your meaningful comments.
      I hope you try the exercise - let me know how you do.

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  11. this is wonderful - i'm going to have to try this! lovely apple!

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    1. I can tell you use your imagination a lot in your work so the exercise will be easy for you, Myra. Thanks for the comment.

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  12. This is why you are such an amazing Teacher! Thanks for sharing your wonderful exercise. I would have loved to see group pictures of what they produced.
    You rock!
    P. S. The sunrise was beautiful also...

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  13. Gorgeous sunrise indeed! That's a really cool exercise for your students. I find sometimes we get bogged down in trying to recreate what we see and lose a bot of our individuality and freedom in the process.

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  14. That photo takes me back. It's been a long time since I saw the Organ Mountains! I really like your paintings and your photos!

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I love that you are taking the time to comment and thank you for it. I am sure other readers will enjoy them too. If you cannot comment through this format then email me at juliefordoliver@gmail.com
Cheers,
Julie