Day 23 of our 30 day January Challenge was a drawing class trick from Fran O’Neill. The purpose is to trick artists into describing surface and surroundings that have as much interest and presence as the stuff that’s sitting on and in front of it. The most common response to this kind of exercise is “how the heck do I draw a white wall?!?” In short, you find a way across it.
Here are some of my favorite descriptive empty scenes:
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The urge to fill in empty space with an object instead of describing the surface or space itself is sometimes too much for artists to ignore, and there were quite a few drawings that had an object plopped in. Below is my favorite drawing as the artist posted it, and then with an edit from me, so we can see how strong and captivating the drawing is without it.
Original drawing, artist’s name unknown
Doctored in Photoshop by me
This drawing was posted to Padlet without a name. If this is your drawing, please forgive me for altering your original. Contact me or post below so I can credit you, and so that I may send you a token of my appreciation for this beautiful drawing.
One year ago in March, to protect our students and teachers from a new coronavirus, the Seattle Artist League moved our classes online. The virus was declared a national emergency, and we went into quarantine. We have now been in quarantine for thirteen months. Through this year, we have met each other online to draw, …
Abed Abdi, Muslim Painter Lately I have been interested in what happens to the focus of making art when artists live in politically turbulent times. What happens to your artwork when you feel anxious, confused, frustrated, angry, blindsided, and destabilized? What happens to your artwork when you feel like your opinion is valued, and what …
A pioneer in 20th century printmaking, Glen Alps was the professor and creator of the Printmaking Department at UW. Alps coined the term “collagraph” for his prints in the 1960s. The process was much more involved then traditional printmaking methods such as engraving, serigraph, or etching. Collagraphs are a low-tech, low toxic, and accessible printmaking process. …
Take a class with SAL – anywhere! See those little horns at the top of Moses’ head? It’s a bit of a misunderstanding. In the old Latin Vulgate Bible, they used the term “cornuta facies” which can be translated either as “horned face” or “radiant face” to describe how Moses’ looked after he chatted with …
30SAL Faves: Set the Stage
Day 23 of our 30 day January Challenge was a drawing class trick from Fran O’Neill. The purpose is to trick artists into describing surface and surroundings that have as much interest and presence as the stuff that’s sitting on and in front of it. The most common response to this kind of exercise is “how the heck do I draw a white wall?!?” In short, you find a way across it.
Here are some of my favorite descriptive empty scenes:
The urge to fill in empty space with an object instead of describing the surface or space itself is sometimes too much for artists to ignore, and there were quite a few drawings that had an object plopped in. Below is my favorite drawing as the artist posted it, and then with an edit from me, so we can see how strong and captivating the drawing is without it.
This drawing was posted to Padlet without a name. If this is your drawing, please forgive me for altering your original. Contact me or post below so I can credit you, and so that I may send you a token of my appreciation for this beautiful drawing.
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One year ago in March, to protect our students and teachers from a new coronavirus, the Seattle Artist League moved our classes online. The virus was declared a national emergency, and we went into quarantine. We have now been in quarantine for thirteen months. Through this year, we have met each other online to draw, …
Abed Abdi
Abed Abdi, Muslim Painter Lately I have been interested in what happens to the focus of making art when artists live in politically turbulent times. What happens to your artwork when you feel anxious, confused, frustrated, angry, blindsided, and destabilized? What happens to your artwork when you feel like your opinion is valued, and what …
Glen Alps
A pioneer in 20th century printmaking, Glen Alps was the professor and creator of the Printmaking Department at UW. Alps coined the term “collagraph” for his prints in the 1960s. The process was much more involved then traditional printmaking methods such as engraving, serigraph, or etching. Collagraphs are a low-tech, low toxic, and accessible printmaking process. …
A Cringe Worthy Mistake
Take a class with SAL – anywhere! See those little horns at the top of Moses’ head? It’s a bit of a misunderstanding. In the old Latin Vulgate Bible, they used the term “cornuta facies” which can be translated either as “horned face” or “radiant face” to describe how Moses’ looked after he chatted with …