Students looked at safari animal props and drew them with charcoal.
Students learned another technique for holding their brush this time sideways, so they get dark, medium, and light ink all in the same brushstroke. This is how waves, clouds, and mountains are created.
For the second week of sumi-e painting students learned how to paint an evergreen tree. They practiced what they learned from painting the willow; sitting up straight, holding the brush straight, and letting the brush run out of ink. And like sumi-e artists, students painted from their hearts.
Although they all painted the same tree, what always amazes me is how different each students' work is. Their personalities shine through in the work.
One of the themes at Becket Outdoor Center this year is ferns and fiddleheads. Students observed and studied ferns in order to create fern sumi-e paintings.
Students looked very closely at their ferns in order to re-create them as paintings.
A box of ferns.
