Saturday, February 20, 2010

Pamela Allen Exercises--week 2

This week we focused on moving away from cliched plant images and coming up with our own. Pamela encouraged us to look at the work of masters, so I went through and sketched plant forms from 20c. art then doodled a couple pages of my own.



I though I'd use my sketches as starting points, but once I began, I found it was a lot more fun to just browse through my fabric and let bits of it determine my plants:




I then did a small study based on Paul Klee's plants:

Our big project for the week was to put together a garden scene, paying close attention to composition. I was thinking of our gray spring days when bits of light shine through.


Pamela suggested toning down my bright spots as they catch the eye too much. Here is her revision:

I'm still pondering this one. I think a little more spark is necessary, so I've left this one on my wall for a while. I think I'm going to be compromising somewhere between my version and Pamela's.

It was a fabulous week of composition instruction. It's been really fun to see all the gardens that people came up with, each with its own personality. I can't tell you how valuable it is to see Pamela's critiques of every piece!



4 comments:

Leigh said...

Thanks for sharing these lessons. Her suggestions are right on..
Great work.

Jacky said...

Wonderful composition...I cant believe you had done all of this in week!!!!
I like the bright colours in your plant life, but did like where Pamela had toned down the background (turquoise etc). One of those things though isnt it where you learn from these wonderful artists and then put your own spin/stamp on it.
I am just loving this and cant thank you enough for sharing.
I have been working on some trees this week too and the round bits of fabric have been featuring...love them!

Jacky xox

Dreamcicle Journeys said...

Robin, thanks for sharing your exercises from Pamela's class. It's fun to see your porgression from lesson to lesson. I agree with you that you need to live with something awhile, then decide changes to make and still keep your own style.

Herm said...

Great composition, the "toned down" version gave more life to the tree on the right with the round pieces of fabric, I'm sure that was a difficult exercise to do!