I've recently found artist Carla Sonheim and 'The Art of Silliness' at Barnes and Nobel thru her book Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists. I adored the book, bought it and have been dying to try out all her ideas. Then recently I discovered that she's currently teaching an online class on Drawing. So I signed up and have begun to draw, something that I should be doing anyways. But this seems to be the push I needed to get me going.
Our first exercise, which my son and I tried together, was to draw 3 things with our eyes completely closed. This was so challenging and fun and something I'd never tried before. First we drew a leaf, then tree and finished off with a house. My son's work is above and mine below. Zach seemed to have much more control and focus then I did as you can see, but I really did like my leaf :)
Carla Sonheim is a painter, illustrator, and creativity workshop instructor known for her fun and innovative projects and techniques designed to help adult students recover a more spontaneous, playful approach to creating. She is the author of Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun, a bestselling book!
She has two new books coming out this Fall: Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals: A Mixed-Media Workshop (Quarry Books) and The Art of Silliness: A Creativity Book for Everyone (Perigee Books).
One of her students writes, “Carla just shines and is so gentle and generous that you will work hard all day and come out energized and inspired. Most importantly though, [her] class was a touchstone in my artistic journey, giving me the courage to stop resisting, and open myself to my creative voice.”
This seems like a great exercise, it really makes you think. I just discovered artist Joanne Fink and her "Zenspirations". She is on youtube with step by step instructions on fantastic lettering. Fun to start the year with new ideas.
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