The following write up and photos have been supplied by Kristina Love, it sounds like the Hans Van Weerd class on Wednesdays has been great and it certainly looks like everyone is really enjoying it:
Wednesday Drawing Classes with Hans Van Weerd
Hans Van Weerd, an experienced artist who has recently joined HBAS, has offered a new class which runs from 12.30-2.30 on Wednesdays at Louis Joel. The 10 - week program, entitled ‘Dynamic Drawing in Mixed Media’, was certainly dynamic as participants enthusiastically explored how to make fluid, unselfconscious marks with implements we never thought ourselves capable of using. We found out that ink can be applied with sticks, feathers, and cotton buds to capture the essence of ordinary household objects; we learnt to be speedy as we passed our painting subjects on after 5 minute sketches; and we learnt to embrace our ‘mistakes’ and see our drawings as ‘pentimento’, works which preserve the traces of all our marks. And that was just Week 1!
In week 2, our focus shifted to the human figure and face. Hans demonstrated how to sketch in the proportions of the human body, using ink and his favourite stick. He modelled how to ‘embrace mistakes’ and we followed suit, unconcerned about approximations as we worked towards accurate proportions and perspectives. Hans drew on selections from an impressive collection of photos of character-filled male and female models, allowing us to capture something of the essence of old and young faces and bodies in interesting (and sometimes challenging) poses.
Sadly, Covid lockdown meant that our scheduled class for week 2 was postponed and numbers were restricted to 10 for subsequent classes, though Hans will plan for make-up classes later on. In our third week, we experienced the enormous value of drawing images upside down. This was thoroughly counterintuitive for many of us, but we all agreed that this disciplined us to focus on the bigger shapes of a composition and concentrate on what we actually perceive, rather than what we think we see. Putting aside our visual preconceptions was harder for some than for others as we grappled with foreshortening in some wonderfully selected images: a young man looking imperiously down at the viewer and a woman bungee jumping towards us! This really was dynamism in action!
Hans’ class is now fully subscribed for term 3 but watch this space for the Term 4 program! In the meantime, check out Hans’ web site and Instagram:
Website: https://www.artonyourwall.com.au
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hansvanweerd/
PS. An addendum from Hans: “All participants rose to the challenge and clearly demonstrated their willingness to explore new avenues. very rewarding; the best that can happen to any tutor! “
Wednesday Drawing Classes with Hans Van Weerd
Hans Van Weerd, an experienced artist who has recently joined HBAS, has offered a new class which runs from 12.30-2.30 on Wednesdays at Louis Joel. The 10 - week program, entitled ‘Dynamic Drawing in Mixed Media’, was certainly dynamic as participants enthusiastically explored how to make fluid, unselfconscious marks with implements we never thought ourselves capable of using. We found out that ink can be applied with sticks, feathers, and cotton buds to capture the essence of ordinary household objects; we learnt to be speedy as we passed our painting subjects on after 5 minute sketches; and we learnt to embrace our ‘mistakes’ and see our drawings as ‘pentimento’, works which preserve the traces of all our marks. And that was just Week 1!
In week 2, our focus shifted to the human figure and face. Hans demonstrated how to sketch in the proportions of the human body, using ink and his favourite stick. He modelled how to ‘embrace mistakes’ and we followed suit, unconcerned about approximations as we worked towards accurate proportions and perspectives. Hans drew on selections from an impressive collection of photos of character-filled male and female models, allowing us to capture something of the essence of old and young faces and bodies in interesting (and sometimes challenging) poses.
Sadly, Covid lockdown meant that our scheduled class for week 2 was postponed and numbers were restricted to 10 for subsequent classes, though Hans will plan for make-up classes later on. In our third week, we experienced the enormous value of drawing images upside down. This was thoroughly counterintuitive for many of us, but we all agreed that this disciplined us to focus on the bigger shapes of a composition and concentrate on what we actually perceive, rather than what we think we see. Putting aside our visual preconceptions was harder for some than for others as we grappled with foreshortening in some wonderfully selected images: a young man looking imperiously down at the viewer and a woman bungee jumping towards us! This really was dynamism in action!
Hans’ class is now fully subscribed for term 3 but watch this space for the Term 4 program! In the meantime, check out Hans’ web site and Instagram:
Website: https://www.artonyourwall.com.au
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hansvanweerd/
PS. An addendum from Hans: “All participants rose to the challenge and clearly demonstrated their willingness to explore new avenues. very rewarding; the best that can happen to any tutor! “