Art class week 4

We were back to still life today (as opposed to drawing from a picture)... and it was boots! This is quite funny, as I have long wanted to draw boots. When I was at school everyone who did art drew their Doc Martins. I, however, was studying science. Then there was a fabulous and huge picture of DMs in one of the first "locals" that my husband and I drank in. I drank 'directors' and he drank Guinness. It was a funny old pub, full of the local winos, but a great plus for it was the real ale and the fact that there was no juke box. Last year, after a discussion about whether a 'technical' approach to art was required, we set ourselves a challenge to do a picture of boots in our own styles and look at the results side by side (this challenge as yet is unstarted).



So this is a trial run for my side of the challenge. I have learned a lot from drawing these boots... firstly matt, old, worn in boots do not pick up many reflections! Secondly, the temptation to reproduce all the lines of stitching is very hard to resist. Thirdly, boots are a weird and very awkward shape!







And what did I learn of the people today? Well, I learned that my art teacher is 65, that he did not go to art college until he was 50, that he had a riding accident a few years ago, and that one of his main income streams is painting other people's horses. He also told me he thought I should be very pleased with my picture of a castle on a hill (and I am), and he suggested some ways to work it up a bit more to improve the overall effect. I shall give it a go and post the results.