Building Observation Skills to Enhance Realistic Portrait Drawing

Building Observation Skills to Enhance Realistic Portrait Drawing

Three sessions:
May 13, 20 and 27 from 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
in Lenox

In-person only.

This hands-on workshop will build an awareness of the differences between what we think we know and what we observe by enhancing our observation skills, exploring the use of materials and studying some anatomical structures of the head with emphasis on the face.

Claudia will also share a program she created and implemented for 5-7 year olds, “Emotions Count!” to use recognition of changes in their own facial expression to describe their emotions and the dramatic enhancement of the children’s self-portraits in response.  

Your experiences in these sessions will lead to your own creating of more realistic, expressive portraits based upon your enhanced observation skills.

Materials needed for this workshop:

• Small soft zipper bag like an old cosmetic bag to hold pencils, eraser, and very small pencil sharpener.
• Sketch pad. White paper at least 8” x 11” or 9”x-12”
  (Helpful if each page scored for easy removal)
• 4 graphite pencils, one very dark (6B-9B), one medium, one light, and one white pencil.
• 1-2 pencils with eraser attached  and lead that contracts into pencil like Papermate Sharpwriter.
• Small pencil sharpener to use with graphite pencils.
• Eraser-your choice
• One clear plastic 18” ruler
  

As a teenager, Claudia Shuster studied figure drawing at the Art Students’ League. This resulted in her college major,  history of art.  

The national recognition of the importance of early childhood education coupled with her role as a parent led Claudia to study child development and early childhood education (M. Ed. 1973, Ed. D. 1989). Coupling her interests in art and early education, she learned to observe and represent individuals more accurately. Her continued teaching engaged artists in creating more accurate portraits and enabled teachers to more sensitively identify and support each learner’s development.

These interests have continued to assist Claudia’s multi decade teaching as well as her continued development as a portrait artist.

Cost: $50 for OLLI at BCC members,
           $55 for non-members

Sign up today!

Register online or call 413.236.2190 (M-F 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.) to register by phone with a credit card.