Learning to See

This past Saturday I took one of Lisa Cheney's drawing workshops. She is a very accomplished local visual journalist.  She has taught at Art Fest, Journal Fest, Art Unraveled etc. and has been published in quite a few books and magazines. It was quite a treat not to have to travel to attend one of her classes.

Lisa

 Lisa starts out the class with several exercises to make everyone feel comfortable. 

 

 It was also fun that several of my artist friends were in the class. Zella, a metals artist joked that it would be easier if we could draw with a blow torch.

Lynn, who creates life like equine sculptures and

Marianne , Queen Gypsy, Mixed Media and Photography

Marianne's drawing of Zella's squid.

My drawing-practicing contour drawing and crosshatching

mine-adding watercolor to the line drawings

At the end of the class we switched to pencil and worked with values

 It was a fun class and I was glad not to be the teacher for once.

Silver City Inspiration

Picture post card perfect. My husband and I had the opportunity to snowshoe into this old mining town in the remote Owyhee mountains in Idaho. The roads are closed all winter and the only way in is to walk or snowmobile. It took us 4 hours to go about 5 miles and a couple thousand feet in elevation.
Day 2 was an optional hike to SawPit Peak. I decided to stay in town and explore and take photos. We were privy to a tour of the Drugstore, which it's newest drug was dated 1906. We also got to go in The Masonic Hall. Our hotel was built in 1863. Our bed and furnishings were all original. The light fixtures are all original and are now run by solar power. It was like staying in a museum were you are allowed to touch stuff.
Some of the blind contour sketches I did while relaxing at the hotel. These will probably be incorporated into some kind of collage.