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About five or six years ago, having taken a phenomenal workshop with Hollis Chatelain in 2002 at Kalispell (Montana)’s Quilt Gallery (for which I saved up for two years and drove a thousand miles each way!), and while at another well-done workshop with Jane Sassaman, I came to the conclusion that what I needed was not so much quilting workshops, but ART lessons. I needed to learn to SEE. I learned other good stuff from Jane, but that was the prize realization!
In a nutshell, I wasn’t getting things to look like they really look OR the way I wanted them to look…I needed to learn how to translate what was in front of me into cloth and in some way other than photos and tracing… I wanted to be able to DRAW so that I could make the quilts in my head.
However, I then lived on San Juan Island, Wash. state, which is 2 hours by ferry from the mainland; while there were assorted painting classes available on the island (population year round about 7,000), there were no basic DRAWING classes, and I needed that first. So I purchased The New Drawing on The Right Hand Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards (click on title to go to amazon listing) and, to make myself do it, the companion workbook which really makes it such a no-brainer to do that you have no excuse for NOT doing the exercises.
I told some of my quilty friends, and two, Lunnette and Linda, both asked if they could do it with me. That was the best thing that could have happened… because of our committment to one another, we really worked hard to get the “homework” done. Lunnette’s sons were mostly grown and gone, but Linda (working full time as a teacher no less) and I had wee ones at home and work, so the two of us were ALWAYS doing things at the last minute.
When we began, I was skeptical that it would really work, but we decided to give it a go. As part of the process, you are asked to do several pre-instruction drawings, then not look at them until you complete the training. The three of us did our self-portraits, and while none were stupendous, you could tell who was who, and a stranger looking at them could have done so, too! Here is my pre-instruction portrait from Fall 2003:
![200904selfportrait005 200904selfportrait005](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/200904selfportrait005.jpg)
It took us nearly a year to complete the “course” and we rushed toward the end, as we ended up moving in June 2004 and we all really wanted to finish it together. Here is my end-of-course portrait:
![200904selfportrait004 200904selfportrait004](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/200904selfportrait004.jpg)
Quite a bit better, eh? My notes say “eyes not quite correct.” Very true.
Now, nearly six years later, (well OK, a year ago, five years or so later I bought the stuff, but it has taken until now to get the time to do this) I decided that I might benefit from doing the workbook and exercises again. My “seeing” skills are better, but I need more practice. So, following the instructions more or less (they said use a 2B pencil, and I used a 4B) I did this drawing.
![200904selfportrait003 200904selfportrait003](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/200904selfportrait003.jpg)
Once it was done, I pulled out the old workbook for comparison. I’m happy to say I have not gotten worse! Here are the two side-by-side:
![200904selfportrait002 200904selfportrait002](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/200904selfportrait002.jpg)
In the new portrait, the face is a bit too narrow, but otherwise it is pretty good. The eyes are better (and new glasses), and I think the hair is actually better, but the nose in the one from 5 years ago is much better. The current one also needs more shading, but (in a feeble self defense) that is hard to do with a single pencil… you need the soft ones and smudging…. Anyway, I had forgotten, however, that part of the education is learning to create a ground–to shade the paper to a mid-tone, then work darker AND lighter (the eraser as a drawing tool…was that ever a lightbulb moment!)
To give you an idea of what I was looking at when I did this self-portrait, I managed to take this photo… and you can see my packed studio (and more packed design wall) in the background. I propped the mirror on the flip-up stitch display on my Janome 6600 (note: I took the photo in the afternoon, and the sun had shifted so the lighting on my face is different):
![200904selfportrait006 200904selfportrait006](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/200904selfportrait006.jpg)
And after looking at the “after” portrait from 2004, I went back and darkened up the background and added a bit of shading. Better. Face is still too narrow, but looks better. I also appear younger than I actually am… I think that is because there isn’t enough shading, but I need to learn how to convey (sigh) sagging skin and other vagaries of age.
![200904selfportrait001 200904selfportrait001](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/200904selfportrait001.jpg)
I’ll be curious to see what I can learn by the time I get to the “after” this time around. Since it took a year last time, and since I don’t have two friends to keep me on track this time, don’t hold your breaths, but I will share…when I’m done.