Surf Drawing Classes--Update class 4 & 5

I have been updating my first post on the drawing class, which is located on Sept. 29th, 2013 but thought that perhaps someone might be interested to see the new material up-front too.  

 

Class Four: 10-10-13
We began with our prayer (we always do!) then I read the page I handed out on Georgia O'Keefe (I actually only read the high points since it was a little long and we didn't have time for every line.) and looked at the color print of the color print of Purple Petunia and discussed it.  Then we did our warm-up drawing exercises.  During our very first class I had the class answer a lot of questions regarding what we could do during the class; and one question was whether or not they would want to draw with paper taped up on the wall; and they had unanimously said "yes!".  Dd and I bought a big roll of brown butchers paper at Lowe's and some masking tape and put up 16 large pieces around the room for each student to have a station.  The students could use pencil, or black Sharpie, or black drawing pens.  They had a BLAST!!!!  So much so, that we are going to do it again this week. 

Georgia O’Keefe

One of America’s most well known female artists was born on November 15, 1887 to Ida and Frank O’Keefe.  She was the eldest of five girls in a family of seven children.  Her father was a successful farmer in Wisconsin.  She grew up working on the farm; learning to sew, cook, tend the vegetable garden, building her own doll house and spending hours creating make-believe worlds.   Her mother thought all her children should go to college and learn a profession to work outside the home.

Georgia knew by the age of 10 that she was an artist.  She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1905-1906.  She attended the Art Students League in New York City under William Merritt Chase.  Chase had a tremendous influence on her.  He taught the “plen air” method of painting, and often taught his students in outdoor classes.  Chase said to be “artistic in every way”.  To him, the process of painting was more important than the final work.  He made his students paint eight or ten pictures one on top of the other until the canvas became too thick with paint.  He insisted that his students should paint a new picture every day and experiment with painting the same things in different ways.  These lessons I’ve just mentioned of Chase’s are very much lessons that O’Keefe took to use herself!  When studying O’Keefe, you can clearly see how influential Chase was to her foundation.

So, that is Georgia’s education---why is she so famous that we are talking about her?  Well, I think if we were to walk up to someone on the street and ask “Who is Georgia O’Keefe?” they would say something about her being the lady that paints enormous paintings of flowers; and they would be right.  No one had ever painted flowers this way before; and LOTS of people had been painting flowers for a very long time!!!!  She changed the way people looked at flowers, and the way they painted flowers.  She found her OWN way; her very own unique style.  But, first she started out doing the basics just like everyone else. Georgia won her first prize for a still-life of a rabbit in a class under Chase, and it looks so perfectly perfect…(and kind of boring too) but eventually she kept drawing (with charcoals mostly) and one thing lead to another and her work got attention in New York City in 1916 when she was 29 years old.  Alfred Stieglitz was a well known photographer and art gallery owner was so impressed with her drawings that he put her drawings up in his gallery….and the rest, they say, is history!  I only have one page to tell you about her, so I won’t go into all the details of Georgia and Steiglitz…but they fell in love and married; but most importantly, he encouraged her to focus on her artwork instead of teaching art (which is what she had been doing).  O’Keefe thought that the purpose of art is to show a thought or feeling, and that parts of a painting must work together in harmony.  She remained independent from shifting art trends and stayed true to her own vision, which was based on finding the essential, abstract forms in nature.

Last class we learned about Caravaggio, and how it seemed like he took a spotlight to his figures in his paintings—to force us to focus on what he wanted us to focus on…Well, O’Keefe doesn’t use a spotlight; she uses a MAGNIGFYING GLASS!  She makes us see her subject matter how she wants us to see it—her way!  I’ve found a few quotes from her—so she can tell you about herself!  I thought this might be better than me trying to do it.  Last facts first though: She painted and sculpted and worked all her life; making some two thousand pieces of art until she died at age 98!!!  She is easily considered one of America’s most famous artists.

“Nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small.  We haven’t the time-and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”  “If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small.  So I said to myself- I’ll paint what I see- what the flower is to me, but I’ll paint it big, and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it-I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.”

“I hate flowers- I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move!”  “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way-things I had no words for.”

This Week:


Class Five: 10-17-13

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon—a.k.a.-Frida Kahlo

Our painting is: Self-Portrait 1 – 1940 or Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace & Hummingbird 16” x 24”

Was born in Coyoacan,  a small town on the outskirts of Mexico City, on July 6, 1907.  She died at the age of 47, on July 13, 1954.  In 1910 (she was 3 years old) the Mexico Revolution began and was a major influence throughout her life.  Her mother would usher her and her siblings back inside their home each time the revolutionary shots were fired in the streets where they lived.  To complicate her childhood further; she contracted polio at the age of six.  Polio left her right leg thinner than her left leg; so she wore paints or colorful, long skirts.  Finally, at age 18 she was in a major accident between the bus she was riding in and a trolley car.  Some of the riders died in the accident; Frida suffered many injuries: broken spinal column, broken collarbone, broken ribs, broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, dislocated shoulder, iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus which compromised her reproductive capacity.  She spent 3 months in a body cast; had 35 operations—mainly on her back, right leg, or right foot.  Understanding the extent of her injuries,  the amount of pain she was constantly in,  the amount of time she spent alone in hospitals or in bed is very critical to getting her perspective of her unique and painful life.  It was all this pain, and all this “brokenness” that caused her to become the artist that she became.  She needed a way to express herself and painting was a perfect outlet for her.

Unlike Georgia O’Keefe; Frida didn’t know as a child that she wanted to be an artist.  She doesn’t have thousands of paintings to her credit—or art school degrees.  She was a very curious child –always bringing home plants, rocks, insects, and small animals to study.  She was particularly bright and was admitted to the National Prepatory School of Mexico being one of only thirty-five girls admitted (quite an honor!).  Her father was a professional photographer and an amateur artist, who was curious about all kinds of things.  He taught her about photography; and this portal is how Frida’s paintings look----like photographs of herself!

What makes Frida so special?  **Frida painted her real feelings in a way that had never been seen before.**  Frida painted about  143 paintings; which 55 were self-portraits; it is the self-portraits that showed all the pain, agony, love, joy, sadness, loneliness, and passion she possessed.   Right after the accident, during her recovery time, Frida began painting while being laid up in her hospital bed.  She had to learn how to deal with being in pain and being bored.  She turned into one of the most popular Mexican artists of all time as a result; being the first Mexican artist to exhibit her own work at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.  Like with Georgia O’Keefe; Frida was married to a famous artist, and I could spend my whole page talking about him-Diego Rivera (a cubist painter and muralist – one of Mexico’s most famous artists also); but I don’t have time.  They had a very rocky relationship with many up’s and down’s; which gave Frida fuel in which to paint more paintings about her love and devastation regarding Diego.

Now for some quotes from Frida for you to hear about her, from her:

“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”  

“My paintings carry with them the messages of pain.”  

“I never painted my dreams, I painted my own reality.”

 “Painting completes my life.”

I had huge sorrow (paraphrase mine)….”but it learned to swim and now I am overwhelmed by decency and proper behavior.” 

“Taking in one’s sorrow means risking that sorrow to eat you up from the inside.”

“They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t.  I never painted dreams.  I painted my own reality.”

“I am not sick.  I am broken.  But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.”

I hope you all are interested in learning more about Frida Kahlo and will learn more about her and her artwork!!