Sketching in Public

The weather in NC since Jan has been predictable. 65-70 on Saturdays and 35-40's on Sundays with snow, sleet and ice by the following Tuesdays. We have had thunder storms in the winter...and in NC that means, according to old wives tales, that we will have snow in 9 days. And it has happened the two times we experienced the thunderstorms.
The point has been that many of the shows we attend-art and horse shows- have suffered due to the weather. Let's face it-no one wants to go outside or even get in the car to go to any kind of event when the fireplace seems like a good place to be!

5 x 8 ink sketch of covered ring

Last weekend we were at a horse show in Wilmington, NC. We just went for the day although we arrived and set up the tent the night before. The weather was going to do just what I have said-change drastically by Sunday. But oh my the Saturday we had was AMAZING! 72 degrees, sunny and with a breeze swaying the spanish moss hanging from the oak trees. Too early for any bugs, no dust and a combination of both a covered and uncovered ring and lots of help made it a delightfully smooth running show!
So I did what I don't always get to do: sketch. Hubby, Stephen Filarsky painted, I sketched and totally enjoyed soaking up the vitamin D.

Horses at ringside

It's always a bit challenging sketching a scene live with people as obviously kids and horses do not stand still! So using a sharpie pen and 5 x 8 sketch pad I worked quickly, capturing what I could and filling in the rest after they moved.

The results are spontaneous, in the moment and a whole lot of fun!
And as soon as I find the photos I took of him painting on location I will add those!

Learning to Draw

Art is probably the ONLY subject (hobby, profession) where the average person has the attitude "you have to be born being able to draw" to do it.  Think about it-even in music the average musician learns a step by step procedure to reach a certain level of proficiency-same in ant profession from jewelry making to becoming a doctor.
This past weekend we had a group come to our studio for a "TREES" workshop and they had a blast! None were "accomplished" artists but they wanted to know "how to I draw a tree." What do I do first?
Steve demoed first with charcoal.

Oil Sketch and charcoal sketch by Stephen Filarsky

The key to learning to draw is learning to see and Feb 1 turned out to be a beautiful sunny day-not too hot (haha it IS February!) and not too cold.
Why a sunny day in winter? No leaves! Yep-just form, structure limbs and wonderful shadows.

Trees are very forgiving :-) A limb too high or too low, too fat, too skinny doesn't matter. It's not like a face or an object where the end result is usually to have it look like that object (or person) A tree is recognizable and not intimidating, so learning to SEE what you need to see to draw a tree can be employed with any other thing you would like to draw! 

I'll have some recent paintings I have completed up soon but below are some of the results of the TREES class. Enjoy!

And if you have a group interested in us holding one of our workshops either at our location, or yours, let us know!