Drawing in the Wild June 13th

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​Henri Rosseau     
Newsletter June 2020

Hey life drawing friends,
What a year hey? Well, I think we deserve a bit of a treat, don’t you?. Now that the restrictions for events outdoors are relaxing, I think it’s time to get out and draw outside. As of 1st June, up to 20 people can gather at a public event and my parents very kindly have agreed to let us use their huge garden to have Bobby pose for us in the wild in Mudgeeraba. What’s more, for the next 2 months there is shade in this area, so it’s now or never. I can fit 10 people in easily keeping to social distancing guidelines. So lets do it!

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Drawing in the Wild
13th June 2020 9am to 1pm.
As usual we will start with instruction, demo and practice dealing with composition before working with the model. Working outdoors will present new challenges for all of us but it will be fun. You will need to be well equipped and appropriately dressed to protect yourself from the elements. (Refer to photo) If it rains, we will just have to go back to the old classroom (depending on indoor restrictions) or I will cancel or postpone the event. It is essential that you give me your mobile contact if you choose to participate, so that I can contact you if we have rain. Each easel has a huge Bunnings umbrella, but it may not protect us from wild rain.

Materials
For this day, bring your graphite pencils or charcoal pencils. Some of you may want to experiment with pastels as Bobby will be surrounded by palm leaves and flowers. What is important is that you bring clips to help you keep your paper from flying around in case of a breeze. Sadly, due to Covid 19 restrictions, I will be unable to cater for food or drinks. For this reason, I recommend packing your food and snacks, a nice big thermos of your favourite hot Beveridge(hot toddy?) and a bottle of water.
Put sun cream and aeroguard on your list too.

Timetable options for the Long Pose
We will have:
1. $45 for the half day (tutored) starting 9am and finishing at 1pm.
2. As being outdoors for more that 4 hours may be difficult for the model (and us), we won’t be able to do the extended untutored session this time.

Pre-class study
As composition will be an important part of dealing with the figure and her surroundings I have found a Youtube video that will remind you of some strategies that could help you deal with this workshop. The first video is quite basic and cute and gives you a taster of some strategies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwUZ3PivD6I.

 If you are looking for a higher level of study of composition have a look at Andrew Tischler’s video on the Golden Mean. It’s quite technical, so it’s not for the faint of heart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wntIMD9wbR0

What’s On
As you know nearly everything has been cancelled and artists have had to resort to working online to help them get through these difficult times. Atelier Art classes Brisbane are doing online life drawing classes on Wednesday and Thursday evenings [email protected]. Sylvia Beck is also doing untutored life drawing sessions from her home online. [email protected]
 
Podcasts: John Dalton Gently does it….
If you are doing art work at home and you like chitter chat in the background while drawing, I really recommend John Dalton’s interviews of well-known Irish, British, American and some Aussie painters. It’s always interesting hearing about the painting routines, inspiration, the hardships, their techniques that some of these full-time practising artists have. https://www.johndalton.me  Savvy Painter is another artist’s podcast and for an Australian one I recommend Talking with Painters.

Life Drawing Sessions
Don’t forget that there will be some great quick pose life drawing opportunities on the first, second and third Thursday at Rebecca Cunningham’s Life Drawing sessions at Dust Temple and HOTA https://www.lifedrawingsessions.com.au/ . Check out her website to see when she will commence. I think she will be starting again pretty soon.

I hope to be at as many of those venues as possible to keep practising. Hope I see you there and if not ….. keep drawing 😊 
Kindest Regards,   
​Manuela                                                                                                                         

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