Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
learning to see
Since I’ve been doing some watercolor painting recently, I thought it might be time for another painting/drawing lesson for my younger son, who just turned five 2 weeks ago. You might remember the last lesson, where I had him paint on a large canvas with acrylic and large brushes. As I mentioned in my post about watercolor I have been inspired by Geninne’s paintings lately and so for this next lesson I wanted to try something more representational or figurative and to use watercolor. Neither of my two sons draw this way much. They both draw a fair amount, but it is usually quite abstract -lots of lines, geometric shapes, and almost always numbers (they are both obsessed with numbers).
This is completely fine with me -I really love the drawings they do. But I think part of the reason they don’t draw in a representational way is that they get frustrated with not being able to make the drawing look like the thing they are trying to draw. I can see the beauty in a childlike stick figure drawing and encourage them to keep going but to them it’s just discouraging and so they don’t try.
So I decided that this lesson should really be about learning to see. This is something we talk about in the beginning architecture studios I teach. If you slow down and look around you, forcing yourself to look at things in a new way, you will discover things that were always there that you didn’t notice before. It’s the same with drawing. I used to teach a drawing class for beginning architecture students and I always started by having them do an upside down drawing. This is an exercise from “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”, where you project a an upside down figure on the screen for the students to draw. Most people think that drawing figures is hard, but when upside down, the figure looks unfamilar and so they need to look very closely and carefully to draw it. All of the students produce a very good drawing their first time, and being successful so early in the class is a big motivator to them.
I knew if I tried to talk about seeing things in a new way I would loose him and if I gave him an image that was upside down he would just turn it around. And I also knew that what he really wanted to do was paint with watercolors, so again I set some limits to allow him to be successful quickly while sneaking in a little lesson about seeing:
- First I chose a book with simple graphic line illustrations to draw from: The Field Guide to the Birds of North America, which is a favorite of both of my boys.
- He chose a bird and I had him start with pencil on watercolor paper. I told him to follow the outline of the bird with his eyes and to draw slowly, mostly looking at the illustration rather than his pencil and not lifting the pencil from the paper. We put the paper close to the book so that he could see his paper in his peripheral vision. I helped him a lot with this part, sometimes guiding his hand, sometimes putting a dot of pencil to show him where to change direction. I told him to look at where the major parts of the bird were, like the neck and wing, and to add only the major details.
- Then I gave him a fine tip permanent maker and told him to trace his pencil lines. This really made the bird pop and look like a bird, and he started to get excited.
- Next I had him erase all the pencil lines with a soft eraser and he was left with the graphic image.
- Finally I gave him a very small angled watercolor brush to use. Using good tools is important, even with children. The cheap brushes that come with children’s watercolors are too loose and floppy to get any control. With the small, stiffer brush he was able to control the paint better, and the marker lines gave him a place to start and stop. He chose his own colors, and I love that they are completely different from the original, making the painting uniquely his own.
The whole process was quite quick and he was extremely proud of his painting that looked like a bird. Then he immediately made 2 more. As we worked, my older son worked on his own birds, choosing to fill them in with marker rather than paint them, to be more like the originals in the book. As he is older (eight), and he and I have been talking about “seeing” quite a bit lately, he was able to work in a much more detailed way. He decided he wanted to draw each bird in the book, 4 to a page, and add their names underneath.
I’ll see you all back here in about 10 years to show you his completed project:)
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 9:27 am:
Wow. These are so terrific. I haven’t done enough with my kids and art, clearly.
This looks like the perfect activity for this afternoon.
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 9:34 am:
Where we went camping last weekend had an aviary with some very cool owls and I thought of your boys and their love of birds. I need to let my kids use the watercolors, maybe today.
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 10:01 am:
This is fantastic.
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 11:42 am:
Jess -a great rainy day activity:) It makes me happy to think we inspired you to try it.
Jennifer -L and I went to the Raptor center this weekend. So many cool birds, but one of my favorites was a tiny screech owl. so cute:)
Thanks Jodi!
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 11:43 am:
so sweet! i love the pacific loon. i recall taking a beginning drawing class way back when i was an undergrad. our first assignment was to draw a rumpled brown paper lunch-sized bag. it was difficult, but i was amazed with how my slowing down and truly paying close attention to all of the creases, light, and shadows created such a “real” looking object versus more of a cartoonish outlined object. it’s funny the things we remember…
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 4:16 pm:
good work! I do think it works for me to really slow down and “see” what it is I want to draw. I tend to work so quickly throughout life, that it takes a conscious effort for me to do this with something like drawing. I think I will try this with my kids this week. Emma seems to have it, Ian, well he can learn to “see” with me. xo
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 5:04 pm:
this is wonderful and great for big kids, too.
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 8:55 pm:
Just found your beautiful site–from Orangette actually. I am also an artist (though mostly a writer) who loves to do art with my son. I loved your description of the big canvass art lesson, and these beautiful birds. What a great job he did!
I’ll be back here for sure!
~Christina
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 9:26 pm:
i love your lessons - they’re so thoughtful. and that project - drawing all of the birds in the book - that’s totally something b. would want to do. totally.
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 10:29 pm:
i really loved reading this post. i want to try some of the techniques you mentioned. i’m so scared of drawing…it’s a little ridiculous. your boys have created wonderful works of art.
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 10:35 pm:
denise -I remember drawing paper bags too:) they make a great subject.
cindy -it is a good project for all ages -it was nice to be able to have both boys working at once, at their diff. levels.
shari -you should get the “drawing on the right side of the brain” book. and you should try drawing a crumpled paper bag too:)
thanks everyone:)
on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 6:27 am:
thank you for geninne, the right side of the brain, the pacific loon with a magenta throat, not looking while one draws (sideways is ok).
what i really like in the final result of the pacific loon is the perspective in the head and beek.
i don’t know about schools overseas but ours used to keep all of our drawings till the end of the year then we’d do a collage on the cover and the schoolteacher would have it binded to hand to our mothers at the end of the year and mom kept them preciously.
dad would take my drawings out of the bin and save them in his drawer for me to give to me many years later.
my big sister would ask if i’d give her the ones i was discarding and she still has them framed in her home.
this is love <3
on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 10:29 am:
thanks for sharing the process.
on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 4:08 pm:
if only we could draw the way we did when we were kids….
i always always start w/ an upside down drawing too. always.
on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 11:04 am:
What a fun project!! I’m going to do this with the boys. I cannot wait for your next lesson.
on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 8:48 am:
This is fantastic! You do a great job with your boys. Truly, I’m in awe. As I know I’ve mentioned to you before Seth has a great aversion to any structured drawing. He won’t even draw cirlces, much less numbers. I’m fairly confident it’s because he thinks he can’t do it the way he sees in his head so he won’t try. We have this issue with a lot of things, not just drawing. And when he does try & it’s not perfect there’s often a melt down. Not sure how to get it through to him that it’s ok to not be perfect, it’s even ok to fail. Anyway, I got him doing kumon mazes over vacation. I’m hoping it helps him gain/feel more control with a pencil. Boost that confidence.
on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 12:28 pm:
Hey…I love that set of watercolors! What brand are they and how much do they cost etc?
Thanks. xoxo. –Tiffany
on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 1:49 pm:
wonderful. wonderful and inspiring as always. thank you!
on Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at 1:27 am:
i love the pacific loon! the texture of the feathers on the wing is terrific…
on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 10:29 am:
Again…this post has impressed me. Your boys are just so great and I love all your art lesson ideas. Thanks for sharing Martha
on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 12:20 pm:
your art lessons always make me wish i could come over to your house and hang out with the boys + draw
like shari, drawing scares me to death. it’s so silly but true. i am going to take your advice to get the drawing on the right side of the brain book… hope it can help me with this mental block!
xo