Yesterday was lemon day in Observational Drawing class.
This class always happens in Week 3.
We turn off the lights and have a single light source shining on real lemons that I borrow from the culinary program.
The single lemon on the left is drawn by a veteran who had never used charcoal or pastel before. He entered the right brained drawing state described by Betty Edwards and produced a work that the whole class was proud of. The other lemons were closely observed and drawn with increased attention to light and shadow as well as to placement on the page using the rule of thirds. Many of the students had not used color in their drawings until they attempted the local color of the lemon. The aha moment for me was that so many of these students, who consider themselves novices at drawing, didn't flinch when faced with the reflection of the lemons on the shiny surface of the table and included reflections along with the cast shadow. This was a breakthrough class for almost all the students.
