Today was the first day with Matt and it was an initiation from the start.
Firstly, I had severe problems with my hearing, ( Hyperacusis? ) and was feeling very unwell.
The first thing Matt did was to go through the rules and his expectations. Punctuality was vital. Homework to be done. No chatting in the studio.
Then a series of slides of sketches by various artists. That was to be our task for the day and the next three weeks. Sketching, observation and more and more looking. Practise every day until drawing and seeing were a habit.
His way of teaching is inspirational and difficult to explain. If I could learn by osmosis I would but I feel as though I have only just started to take it all seriously enough to learn. His energy is immense and enthusiasm for seeing the world phenomenal. No drawing or painting from photographs. Face the real thing!
The reason is that we see differently from the camera. His example of looking at a still life of old cans of paint was that we see with memories of other things. Memories of paint tins rusting through lack of use, walls and doors being painted in the past. Associations with the memories. All these things come into play when doing a drawing. Seeing life as it is with the whole of ourselves not just the mundane is the aim.
His aim is to allow us to find what is important to us and let it grow organically. We are all different and it is not the subject which is important but our feelings about certain things ( colour, light, movement, detail, etc..) which is what he wants to see.
The morning was spent doing blind sketching, sketching from memory, using the left hand, continual line drawing and looking more and more intently at what we were seeing. ( Still life) And then spending time later in examining every aspect of what we were seeing.
I got confused and tired! Temporary muddled thinking and went off at a tangent doing sketches of the other students. He came to my rescue and I think I understand more of what is needed.
Apparently my reaction was very common!
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