A point of view from the otherside
Last night I did a demonstration to an art club I had been to before. It was actually 15 years ago. I could not recall what topic or what medium I painted in. I did not mention the fact that I demonstrated to them previously until the end of the evening.
15 years is a long time but there were members who remembered me. I was made aware of this only after I boasted about my claim to fame; use of unusual mediums; oil pastels and shoe polish on rag paper and my love of drawing and painting Jazz bands. No guesses them what I demonstrated to them 15 years prior to this demonstration. I definitely am going to have to find some new stories to tell.
I was quite nervous about the medium I had been asked to demonstrate; coloured pencils. Drawing and essentially colouring in for 2 hours could be quite boring To make the demo initiative and interesting I was going to have to be rather creative!
The topic was to draw an an African scene. Well coming from Africa the topic was right up my street. I had chosen donkeys pulling, a makeshift form of transport, the back half of a toyota car.
The first half of the demo, before the tea break, was chatty and ‘fun’ , I told lots of stories of my experiences teaching art in Africa. The Donkeys were looking great and I managed to impress, by not using a rubber, to shorten the donkeys over exaggerated long legs, using intense shadows to mask the extra bits
After the break, for most artists, it becomes a race to finish the painting / drawing to a presentable piece of art. My donkeys now pretty much finished, the fellow on top driving them with a big smiley grin was finished. The drawing looks ok but it is only 2 donkeys and a man sitting on top of the trailer, very uninteresting. 10 minutes left and I have admit I did smile to myself as my creative being came into force and I started to draw all the people making there way to market in quick sharp marks with a bit of colouring in; african women with there headdress, baby on the back, wheelbarrow full of pineapples. Here is where I think I had the most fun and the crowd they loved it.
