Drawing with Donna Merchant
The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in connection with a grant provided by the Prince William County Arts Council is has been offering free classes to local PWC artists through the PWAS website registration page. Local artist, Donna Merchant led a drawing class on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
More Than a No.2 Pencil
For me, I'm a self-taught artist. I started drawing when I was a kid by just picking up a regular pencil, like a No.2, and doodling shapes and then on to drawings (mostly horses). One pencil did the trick for me then, similar to what I do now, but using a color pencil - especially when the aim is building an outline that will become a painting.
I was hoping to learn some proper drawing techniques, tips and skills, so I signed up for this class as did some other PWAS members along with some other people from the area. The age range was good to see, several young people on up.
I understand that Donna Merchant was a past member of PWAS too, and she has quite the resume in the arts. Tom Payne, the organizer of these great PWAS class series in 2024 and the Member at Large of PWAS, gave Donna's introduction and background. And we're off!
Our first project was a game where one at a time, some small object was placed in a bag and the artists would reach a hand in the bag and take a few seconds and without taking it out or looking at the object would feel what it was, then pass the bag on to the next person. On a piece of paper in front of us that was divided into 6 sections, we were to draw what we felt represented object 1 through 6. If we felt we knew what the object was, title it. At the end, Donna showed what each object was. Sometimes, we got them right!
The second project was to draw and create a grid and use specific pencils to get a feel for shading with those different pencils, then using the stumps to blend. Many of the artists had not used a blending stump before. What a great new toy! Then we had to draw a sphere and then shade the sphere with a shadow. What a fantastic lesson in the use of various types of pencils. No.2 pencils are now no No.2 pencils.
The third quick project was to visualize a snowman, then with eyes closed, draw said snowman. Ooops! Note to self, do not lift up the pencil. To finish that up, we were to draw the actual visualization of the snowman.
Finally, in groups of 3, we selected from a table various objects for our still life drawing. My table partners were PWAS members Anna Gatling and Eric Ndofor. This is the still life we were to get on paper.
Another great new toy discovery was an eraser stick. I like that tricky little tool. Something like this on Amazon. She also pointed out her drawing board easel with its own T Square that could also help as a maul stick similar to this on Amazon.
Here are some various pictures from the Donna Merchant Drawing Class taken by Tom Payne...
Ok, so how did my still life turn out at the end of the class? I KNEW you wanted to know...
A Little Q&A
Practice
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm
Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership
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