Art & Painting Workshops, Classes, Lessons | Napa Valley
(707) 942-0197
  • Home
  • About
  • Acrylic Painting Online
  • Art Workshops
    • Abstract Landscape Painting
    • Acrylic Painting 101
    • Acrylic Painting 102
    • Secrets of Color Harmony
    • Landscape Painting
    • Mixed Media Art Workshop
    • Create Your Own Art Adventure
    • Printmaking
  • Weekly Classes
    • Acrylic Painting & Mixed Media
    • Mixed Media Art Cards
    • Drawing Classes
  • Photos
  • Calendar
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Contact

Tom Seaver, the practice of "always looking," seeing the essence of things, and Gesture Drawing

2/27/2021

0 Comments

 
You may know that I had the wonderful gift of meeting Tom Seaver in 2015, as I was in the process of taking down an art show. We talked for 20-25 minutes about art (he loved art). He was such a wise soul — I wrote down our conversation as soon as I got home, so I wouldn't forget anything. By the way, he introduced himself as Tom, without his last name, and in the course of the conversation, told me he "was a ball player." What a humble guy!
Picture
Gesture drawings of a father playing baseball with his sons, pitching to them, at Pioneer Park in Calistoga • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
I was reminded of it this week by a friendly email I received about him, and about how he told me was “always looking,” referring not only to art, but also to everything around him — looking, seeing, and taking it in.
Picture
Gesture drawings of sons playing baseball with their father, at Pioneer Park in Calistoga • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
​It occurs to me that that’s not how most folks operate. We get into habits of thinking and speaking, and it’s so easy to not really look at what’s around us. That’s where making art can help us get out of those habits, and learn to truly see the things and people and animals and earth all around us. ​
Picture
Gesture drawings — people in Pioneer Park, including sons playing baseball with Dad. • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
I’ve been talking about drawing a lot with my students lately, because it’s a truly wonderful way to strengthen those skills. It’s not only about the hand-eye coordination; it’s also about truly seeing what’s in front of us — about seeing it with new eyes, in new ways — so that we’re taking it all in, not defining it in terms of what we already know.
Picture
Gesture drawings • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
Gesture drawing, which you see here, is about just that. If you have a minute or less, can you capture the essence of someone's stance? Their action? Their gesture? It's all about really "looking," as Tom Seaver put it, about really seeing what's in front of you.
Picture
1-minute gesture drawings • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
​When we paint, it’s easy to fall into the trap of painting what we know something looks like, instead of what it really looks like. We think about it (and name it), instead of seeing it. Thinking about something and really seeing it are two entirely different states of mind — and we need to really see things, if we want to make art.
Picture
2-minute quick sketches from photographs that started as gesture drawings • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
That’s why turning things upside down helps. It takes us out of the rational mind that says, “Oh, yeah. Those are trees, with branches, and leaves, and twigs.” It burrows right down to the tiny details, missing the sight of the forest for all the little twigs. Or that says, looking at a person, "Oh, look at those eyebrows,” or perhaps the details of strands of hair, and misses how a person is standing, or turning, or moving.
Picture
Quick sketches from photographs, starting as gesture drawings. These took about 3 minutes each. • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
Quick sketching helps us practice how to see — and sketching starting with the big shapes, the gestures, how things relate to each other. When you’ve truly seen all those things, seen how they relate to each other — when you've got their essence — then you might add twigs. But only if you really, really need them, to bring your vision to life.
And, if you're here in Calistoga, I hope you were able to see the poetry postings around town in February, as part of the Calistoga Art Center's Poetry Walk. If you’re always looking, and taking everything in, like Tom Seaver, you won’t miss things like poems — or who knows what wonderful surprises — that just might be somewhere along your walking route. What a wonderful way to practice seeing!
0 Comments

Creativity can help you get through crazy times....

2/17/2021

0 Comments

 
​(Here's part of the email I sent to my students on 2-11-2021.)

Well, it’s been quite a week, hasn’t it? Perhaps you, like me, have been watching the impeachment trial.  That made it hard for me to make art, at first, because I wanted to watch and listen, and not get focused on something else. But after the first day, I felt horrified, depressed, and exhausted, and needed to do something. So the next day I wound up doodling with colored markers, making a kind of semi-distracted pattern of shapes and hearts, which helped me feel a little less of the above, if possible, as I watched the trial.
Picture
Screenshot of a demonstration video I made for class, on drawing faces. • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
At the end of the day today, though, I was soooo ready to make art! Finally! I started working on drawings for the demonstration video(s) for class — we’ve been looking at drawing, which is such an important foundation for painting — and it felt like a longed-for release. 

By the way, here’s what it looks like when I’m putting together a demonstration video, if you were wondering what it looks like behind-the-scenes. The one above is from one about drawing faces. The one below is a little sample from the demo video I put together about a helpful approach to drawing the mouth.  It’s a short video, with the video sequences put in time lapse (that what the tiny rabbit icon you might be able to see down below represents).
Picture
Screenshot of a demonstration video I made for class on a helpful way to draw the mouth. • © Karen Lynn Ingalls
One of the nice things about having class online is that, because of the time lapse option for the videos, it doesn’t take as long for you to watch a demonstration, and you get an unobstructed view. There actually are some good things about this way of working… who knew? (It’s always good to look on the bright side!)

I wish you lots of creative mark-making of whatever kind works for you right now. Whether it's painting, drawing, writing, doodling, making videos, or whatever you feel called to do — it's all a part of exercising your creative muscles. And creativity, in all its forms, is a wonderful way to get through challenging times.

0 Comments
    Picture

    Karen Lynn Ingalls

    I am a working artist in Napa and Sonoma Counties, in northern California. I paint colorist landscapes of rural California, teach art classes, workshops, and private lessons, live in Calistoga, and have my art studio in Santa Rosa, California.

    ​I also teach private, group, and corporate art workshops online and in Napa Valley, Sonoma County, and other parts of Northern California. You can find more information about my art workshops at www.NapaValleyArtWorkshops.com, or contact me to find out more!

    Blog Post Topics​
    When You're Creatively Stuck
    Why Not Just Copy?
    ART TIPS (more coming)


    Archives

    March 2023
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    April 2020
    February 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    June 2014
    February 2014
    September 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    December 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    Classes
    Composition
    Create Your Own Art Workshops
    Painting
    Painting Collages
    Painting Landscapes
    Relief Printing
    Sketching And Drawing
    Soft Block Printing
    Stencils

    RSS Feed


    Picture
    Follow Napa Valley Art Workshops on Facebook!
Landscape paintings, landscape art of Northern California, Napa Valley artist Karen Lynn Ingalls
​
See more of the artwork 
of Napa Valley artist and art teacher 
Karen Lynn Ingalls at KarenLynnIngalls.com.

Call Karen for more information
​at (707) 942-0197
All text and images are the copyright of Karen Lynn Ingalls, unless otherwise stated, and may not be reproduced without her express written permission.
© 2023 Karen Lynn Ingalls