Jeni Caruana
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Drawing, Painting, Getting together....

23/9/2014

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Come and join our friendly group on Friday mornings, drawing, sketching and painting in the fabulous grounds of 
Villa Bologna in Attard. 
I set up the theme for the morning and then help everyone work in their own way. Just bring yourself and your materials and get away from it all for a morning!
Classes run from 10am til 12.30pm. I supply chairs, boards, water pots, tea, coffee and biscuits. 
The Veg Box selling genuine organic produce will be open too, plus a new chic little cafe in the grounds.
23 euro for a one-off session, 20 euros if you book for more than one. 
Please contact me to book
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Saturday Morning Art Club starts this weekend too - on the 
27th September at 10 am til 12.30 pm. We will continue to concentrate on good drawing skills, but also work with colour this autumn. I like to mix media and explore new ways of making pictures, so expect some fun!
Classes are held in my studio in ManikataSingle classes are 20 euro or 5 classes (to be taken before December 13th) 85 euro
Again, please contact me to book

I also have a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline - one will be in Sliema and open to children 14 -16, helping them to draw figures in motion. The last class will be at the rehearsals of a Flamenco performance and their pictures will be exhibited in the foyer of the theatre afterwards. More details soon!

I would like to run this course for adults later but I need to find a suitable venue first.
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I am planning art classes at a venue in Sliema too, which many people have asked me about. It seems that Manikata is 'too far' for some :-)   So I will come to you......
Again, more details coming soon, but please let me know if you are interested, and whether evening or daytime classes are what you are looking for. I will start by running my popular course of basic drawing and watercolour techniques, which helps everyone to start seeing differently and to begin or continue their Art adventure with added confidence and joy. I will add other courses later.

I find that it is always beneficial to work in a group as well as practice on your own. It's always good to see how other people tackle the same or similar subjects. Creativity grows and expands by sharing ideas and inspiration. Always working alone can be stifling and our work may become dull and repetetive.The more candles we light from our own flame the brighter the whole world becomes!

I am really looking forward to cooler weather and to meeting you at my autumn classes.
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Drawing up the Ladder

17/9/2014

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Our pictures were stories that we were telling ourselves – ‘here is the house, and I can draw the rooms and people inside the house too’. We made more important things bigger, so heads are much larger than bodies, eyes are enormous and Mummy might be twice the size of our naughty sister.
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I think that most adults really wish that they could still draw and paint. 
Almost all of us enjoyed making pictures when we were children - it’s a natural thing for humans to do. Watching colour spread out across the paper, drawing pictures of houses and people and dogs and cats, or whatever else we were interested in was all so easy then. We didn’t worry if our symbolic stick men were exact or not, or if we coloured the trees bright pink with blue apples. 
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Somewhere along the line though, we decided that we just weren’t able to make things look 'real' enough. We copied the symbols of houses and people that we were shown, but they still didn’t look right. Maybe someone laughed at our purple lemon, or our six legged horse. We were told to make grass green and skies blue. Little by little we lost our innocent creativity in an attempt to what? Please other people? 
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Many children then give up, and the precious gift of creative self expression slips away. Some love their art classes at school, and do well in their exams, but when Real Life kicks in, who has time to practice drawing or painting? Years later, when circumstances change, and they have some time for themselves, many decide to take up art again. It's a shame to lose contact with that playful love of making pictures, but luckily it's really never too late to rediscover it.

I really love teaching adults – it’s such a great feeling to help someone realise that actually they can draw much better than they ever thought they could, just by being shown a few simple ‘tricks’.  My previous Blogs (see archives!) have given you every single one of those ‘tricks’. I wonder if you have tried any? They really do work. All we need to do is see the world as it really is instead of how we think it is. And then draw a line around the shapes. It only takes one basic drawing class to get that ‘Ah-ha!’ feeling. Of course, it then takes practice. Anything worthwhile takes practice. 
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I still practice constantly and hope that I am still learning. It’s like climbing an endless ladder that you can’t see the top of because of the clouds – every rung teaches you something new. I don’t ever want reach the top because that would mean the adventure was over.

I am happily climbing that ladder, challenging my drawing skills by using things I can’t control easily, by drawing at night, by drawing people that are moving, by drawing with colour......   how are you challenging yours?


For information on upcoming classes........ 


Or to contact me
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Drawing from Photos

9/9/2014

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Picturedrawing this from a photo wouldn't pass the time...
Artists have used endless tricks and tools to help them capture the image they were after, from lightboxes and lenses, grids and viewfinders, cameras, computers and more recently Photoshop. Many people use photographs as a convenient basis for their paintings. It obviously seems easier to sit and copy a static scene instead of battling the various problems of perspective, three dimensional space, colour, changing light and moving subjects.

A word of caution though; cameras only have one ‘eye’ and can madly distort images, especially when zoom lenses are used. We find it hard to believe that photographs can lie to us so badly, and we don’t even notice the crazy distortions on many photos of moving people. Yet people faithfully copy, even trace, photos of dancers or sportspeople and can’t work out why the figures look so odd.

It seems like a simple solution, but it can be a very deceptive one. The single lens of the camera squashes perspective onto one plane, especially if the figure is moving. This distorts and flattens everything, so that a closer object becomes smaller and a more distant one becomes bigger. As an example look at this photo..

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You may have a problem seeing what is wrong with this at first; we are programmed to believe that photographs are ‘real’ images and cannot lie. Do you see how small the hand is? Flatten your own palm and hold it up to your face with the heel of it against your chin. Your fingertips will come right up to your hairline. That is how big a hand is! 


Now look at this 
 These cricketers look believable until you realise that the man in the front is the same size as the man at the other end of the central strip (that’s the bit they run up and down). See my blog ‘Drawing on Good Measure’ (Archives, 6th March) on how to measure things  - and look like an artist. Just half a metre of distance between two objects makes an enormous difference. These two men, metres apart, can’t possibly appear to be the same size, but the camera lens has done just that.

Someone who has worked from live models and studied three dimensional forms will be able to use a photo in a very different way to someone who has not. A photo of a hand, for example, will bring to mind all the hands an artist has studied in nature. The artwork will reflect that experience and embody much more than the two dimensional image. An inexperienced person will only be able to copy the surface of the two dimensional picture and the result is invariably unconvincing and insubstantial, even if it has superficial polish.
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Using a photo is different from letting a photo use you. A slavish copy of a flat image is exactly that; it takes human aliveness and consciousness to turn it into a work of art. Photographs can be useful aids but we have to be aware of their distortions or we will just copy them blindly. As artists, we have to infuse our work with all our skills of interpretation and insight to give it the kiss of life.  

I do use photographs sometimes. I take photos when there isn't time to paint, and occasionally I capture something that looks like an interesting starting point. For example.....
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 “Machines can do many things better than people, but beauty created by a combination of hand, eye, personality and material is something we shall always need. In fact, there is a sense of presence which can only be created by an artist or craftsman”                                           Martin Gayford
I am starting my classes again after the long hot summer! 
On Friday 19th September mornings I will be returning to the lovely gardens of Villa Bologna to resume the outdoor classes there.
From 20th September the Saturday Morning Drawing Club will get underway again in my studio in Manikata.


For more details please click HERE and contact me if you need any more information at all.


I will also be teaching an exciting six week course for teenagers 12 - 14 beginning in October in Sliema. I'll be showing them how to draw from real people, helping them to sketch quickly and for the last class we'll be working at the rehearsals of a Flamenco performance.


Looking forward to seeing you soon!!
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First Friday Gallery, September 5th

1/9/2014

2 Comments

 
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   At last! TIme for a First Friday.... come and join me on September 5th in Manikata between 5 and 9pm, have a wander around my studio/gallery, meet new people and share a glass of something cool :-)
    I haven't held a First Friday Gallery since May, so it will be lovely to get back into the swing of things again and meet up with both the regulars and newcomers! Everyone is welcome - pop in if you can :-)


I have been busy, of course..... I painted in pastels at the Rabat Festa of Madonna tac-Cintura last Saturday, (see pic on the  right) which was lovely.
  
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I drew CUSP at the Palazzo De Piro's Jazz Night on Wednesday 20th August.......
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...... and the Dominic Galea Trio at the same venue the week before.
I even painted at a Wedding...... which was a great experience.
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And now I am planning my courses for the autumn. I will be starting up the Saturday Morning Drawing Club soon. I think that this time I will include a monthly outing so that we can use the skills and techniques on landscapes, people and buildings. As my regular students know, I show you everything I can think of to help you enjoy drawing. Here are some comments.
I will also be start the Friday morning classes working in the fabulous gardens of Villa Bologna in Attard as soon as the weather cools down a little. 

Is there anything YOU would like me to do a course on? Any particular skill or technique? I think it all comes down to drawing (or rather seeing) - what do you think? 
If Friday or Saturday mornings don't suit you, when would be more convenient? 
Click here to contact me, or pop in on Friday evening!
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    Jeni Caruana

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    ​I love to paint - and draw - and help others to discover their creative side too.....

        Be the first to see my latest work and hear of new classes by adding your email address below. Thank you!

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  • Portfolio
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