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4B-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Title:  ‘White Art Room Bust’ on A3 Canvas Paper using oil paint.  Painted and photographed by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB All images are protected by copyright laws

INTRODUCTION

My 7th class in ‘Produce Paintings’ and ‘Produce Drawings’ (these being subjects that are part of ‘Certificate III in Visual Arts’) was once again another day full of creative adventures!  My ‘Produce Paintings’ class is always a challenge for me where I am constantly trying to master the process of painting with oil paints.  My ‘Produce Drawing’ class I find less frustrating, and more enjoyable at this point in time.  Both classes are certainly helping me to stretch my existing creative skills.  These classes also assist me in paying attention to my overall sense of well-being – art for therapy at its best I feel!

NB:  To view my blogs about previous classes, please click on the given links here – Classes 1, Classes 2, Classes 3, Classes 4, Classes 5, Classes 6.  In relation to this week’s classes 7 for ‘Produce Paintings’ and ‘Produce Drawings’ – please scroll down below to view.

9-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Class at work during ‘Produce Painting’ session 7.  Photograph taken by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB All images are protected by copyright laws

‘PRODUCE PAINTING’ CLASS

Our ‘Produce Painting’ class commenced with our teacher, VIN RYAN, checking in with each of the students individually.  Firstly I set up my painting work bench in readiness to start a new painting for this class.  I hadn’t prepared my thoughts on what to paint for this class before arriving, so it was up to me to hunt around throughout the class room to find something of interest, as a source of inspiration for this week’s painting exercise.

1-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Work bench layout in readiness to commence a new painting in class. Photograph taken by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB All images are protected by copyright laws

MY ‘PRODUCE PAINTING’ CLASS PROJECT

2-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Art Room White Bust in readiness to use as source of painting inspiration. Photograph taken by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB All images are protected by copyright laws

• I found a white bust in the art room and thought it would make a good source of inspiration for my painting this week.

3-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Colour Palette in readiness for painting ‘Art Room White Bust’ – also red paint was added a little later on during the process of painting the bust painting. Photograph taken by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB All images are protected by copyright laws

• The next step I took was to set up my colour palette which consisted of the following colours:
  1. Spectrum Yellow
  2. Zinc White
  3. Silver – from teacher’s paint selection
  4. Mars Black – from teacher’s paint selection
  5. Spectrum Blue
  6. Spectrum Red – NB:  Which I add to my colour palette based on the teacher’s recommendation.

4-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Titled:  ‘Art Room White Bust’ on A3 Canvas Paper in oil paint.  Painted and photographed by Karen Robinson Sept 2016.  NB All images are protected by copyright laws

• It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be to paint the white bust.  There’s a lot that is not quite right with my white bust painting, but it was great trying to make it work.  The part, I have to confuse, I loved doing the most is actually the background, where I gave myself the opportunity of blending paint colours left over on my palette, which I used to fill in the back ground.  Loved seeing how the oil paint blended, glossed and how it moved around on the canvas paper itself!

8-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Photograph taken by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB All images are protected by copyright laws

7-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Photograph taken by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB All images are protected by copyright laws

5-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Photograph taken by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB All images are protected by copyright laws

6-9 Class 7 ‘Produce Paintings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Photograph taken by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images protected by copyright laws

‘PRODUCE DRAWING’ CLASS

Our ‘Produce Drawing’ class commenced after our lunch break.  This gave me a chance to recharge after the ‘Produce Painting’ class.  The teacher, TIM JONES, had our class head off out of the class room.  We walked towards Melbourne’s city centre to Federation Square.  It was a beautiful sunny day and our instruction was to find a spot were we could engage ourselves in doing an observational drawing.

1-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Fed Square Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images protected by copyright laws

2-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Fed Square Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images protected by copyright laws

3-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Fed Square Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images protected by copyright laws

MY ‘PRODUCE DRAWING’ CLASS PROJECT

4-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Spot Karen selected to sit and draw during ‘Produce Drawings’ class outing to Fed Square, City of Melbourne, Australia. Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images protected by copyright laws

• I chose a quiet spot under the shade of some Australian Native Gums Trees.  This small garden became my source of inspiration for my observational drawing.

5-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Fed Square Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images protected by copyright laws

6-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Federation Square Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images protected by copyright laws

7-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Title:  ‘Fed Square Garden’ on A3 Drawing Paper with pencil at Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia.  Drawing and photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB images protected by copyright laws

• My drawing was quick and I really only just sketched in the basics.

10-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Title:  ‘Front Garden View’ on drawing paper with pencil. Visual Diary Drawing and Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB images protected by copyright laws

• The above drawing I did at home the next day.  Knowing we have to have a number of drawings for our portfolio – I decided to sketch up a view of my front garden.  Once again – just a quick sketch with the bird bath as the main feature.

9-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Vase Drawing for Portfolio Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images by copyright laws

8-10 Class 7 ‘Produce Drawings’ CAE Class – Certificate 111 in Visual Arts – Vase Object for drawing Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB images protected by copyright laws

•  The vase drawing above is another sketch of an object which I will be adding to my portfolio.  I can see it is a little wonky on the right hand side and the jar opening doesn’t seem to match the width of the actual jar but I am happy still with the result.

‘PRODUCE DRAWINGS’ VISUAL DIARY

Part of our requirements as art students is to keep a ‘Produce Drawings’ visual diary and here below are a couple of drawings that I have added this week.

1-5 Visual Diary Drawings at home studio – Drawings & Photographed by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB All images are protected by copyright laws

2-5 Visual Diary Drawings at home studio – Drawings & Photographed by Karen Robinson Sept 2016 NB All images are protected by copyright laws

3-5 Visual Diary Drawings at home studio – Title:  ‘Take-away Coffee Cup’ on drawing paper with pencil.  Drawing and photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB All images are protected by copyright laws

• This drawing above of the take-away coffee cup I actually didn’t do at home.  I did this drawing whilst waiting to do my volunteer speaking at a Road Trauma Awareness Seminar.  I wouldn’t normally do such a thing as draw or sketch during such a time being usually a period of 90 minutes waiting before speaking.  But I must say, it was helpful for me as I was still able to concentrate on what was being said and able to create a drawing for myself.  Ticked the happy box for me!

4-5 Visual Diary Drawings at home studio – Drawing demonstration by Tim Jones during ‘Product Drawing’ class.  Photographed by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB All images are protected by copyright laws

• My take-away coffee cup top is a little wonky and after showing my drawing teacher the drawing, Tim said he liked it anyway which made me happy.  Tim then did a little sketch showing me how I can combat this problem in the future re: above sketch from Tim.

5-5 Visual Diary Drawings at home studio – Title:  ‘Thumb’ on drawing paper with pencil. Drawing and Photograph by Karen Robinson Sept 2016. NB All images are protected by copyright laws

• When we got back from our walk to Federation Square, I did a quick drawing of my thumb, just to fill in a little time before the end of class.

WHY WE SHOULD DRAW MORE (AND PHOTOGRAPH LESS)

My Creative Writing Facilitator friend, Judy Bird, recently brought to my attention one of ‘The School Of Life’s’ YouTubes about ‘why we should draw more and photograph less‘.  It was published on 24th June, 2015 and talks about how “our cameras make it so easy to feel we’ve captured what’s important in the world.  But to really appreciate what’s around us, we might need to learn a weirder, less technologically-advanced skill:  drawing” (School of Life 2015).  What I have come to understand is that when we stop to draw, we stop to appreciate, stop in our rush to get somewhere, stop to take a moment to take a breath and just be, which in turn is good for our sense of well-being thus using art for therapy!

CONCLUSION

Am always feeling very fortunate in being able to participate in these painting and drawing classes.  My early morning train journey into the heart of the city of Melbourne via Flinders Street Station and being able to soak up the ambiance of Degraves Street itself during my class break; and the walk today to Federation Square – very much adds to the overall pleasure of the day’s creative outcomes.  Art for therapy at its best for sure….

1-1 CAE Building Coffee Shop – Morning Cuppa before my classes, Melbourne, Australia – Photograph taken by Karen Robinson September 2016 NB All images are protected by copyright laws

CAE is located in one of Melbourne’s iconic cafe/outdoor dining locations – DEGRAVES STREET as photographed above.   Degraves Street’s bluestone-cobbled lane way, its postcard Parisian atmosphere of outdoor dining under umbrellas, and its quaint retail shops, certainly makes attending CAE’s art course each week just that much more of an enjoyable experience!

© Karen Robinson – September 2016

While you are here – please check out my home page!

POST-TRAUMATIC GROWTH:  Using Art & Creative Writing as Therapy – My Journey by Karen Robinson.