Thank you for visiting my website. At this time if you would like to make a purchase please private message me. Some of my work can be found at Poppies Arts and gifts in Ojai California. If you are in the area and would like a studio visit I am happy to accomodate that
Fourth session with Joshua Sunday, July 22, 2018
Joshua can write his signature now, he is a little shakey but if he actually had to sign something he could!!!
Joshua worked with charcoal today looking at a simple still life. I darkend the room and we went over how light defines the form. He can now point out the core light, the reflective light and the highlight. He will need to practice with the charcoal, its nice as easy as one might think.
I had him work on his grid drawing from last week, he trace transfered it onto a piece of paper and will put in tone at home as part of his homework.
We worked on Stamp Board and I introduced him to encaustics. We are going to concentrate on a couple of projects for the upcoming exhibit at City Hall in October.
Joshua Jacober, third session Sunday, July 15, 2018
We skipped our last Sunday meeting so Joshua could go on vacay with his family. I asked him to take his sketch book with him which he did. I also sent him home with some Zen Tangle tiles. I suggested he use a micro pen instead of pencil, he said but then he couldn/t erase and I said thats okay, try it anyway. It seems he likes the dark contrast of the black ink.
We did warm up exercises, and I set up a simple still life for him to practice his contour drawing. After he drew the contours of the still life I darkened the room and discussed how form is defined by light and shading. I demonstrated ways in which to hold the pencil since Joshua uses his writing stance most of the time adding unecessary pressure which is not useful in shading. I had him draw a full spectrum value scale and asked he apply that to his drawing. I showed him how to sharpen his pencil with an xacto knife and sanding a point using a sand paper block. This gives him more lead to use laying the pencil horizontally as he tones. I asked him NOT to outline as this gives a cartoonish finish when using tone to define a form. I turned out the overhead light and provided a single light source so he could better see the value scale.
I showed Joshua how to draw using a grid on tracing paper and an image from a magazine. He got about half way through, I wanted him to quit and finish at home and bring back to our next session. I wanted to be sure he had time for play.
I wanted to be sure to have at least 30 min at the end of our session for play. I gave him a small wooden block with a treated surface and introduced him to alcohol inks. I had him randomly add colors of his choice, and then work back into the piece with a white gel pen to highligt his brand of zen tangles. we went over time and would have continued if the gel pen had not gone kaput. His atc sized wood block is looking beautiful. I enjoy Joshua's enthusiasm and ideas.
I am experimenting and thinking of ways in which to continue with Joshua's interest in Compact drawing, that can further enhance his style. Will be working with vellum and encaustic soon.
Joshua Jacober second session Sunday, July 1, 2018
We discussed the homework that Joshua was able to work on and he showed me one of his compact drawings. He discovered that when he added color to the backside of the drawing and hold it to the light the color shows through and adds interest to the piece. Clever! So I told him we would explore some similar ideas with other papers and transparencies, I like his thinking!
We did warm up exercises, some cross contour studies, cross hatching, and practiced gesture drawing. Gesture drawing wasnt that easy for Joshua and he will practice at home, I suggested using an action figure for poses. I discussed composition shich is the arraangement of positive and negative shapes on the format or drawing page with bounding edges. The composition needs to fit within the format! We did several exercises designed to see the negative space in order to understand that, inside and outside are one and that if you drew only the negative space you would automatically have the positive space. I had Joshua create a view finder the same dimensions as his drawing paper, and suggested closing one eye in order to view the still life in a monocular way than in a bi-nocular way (both eyes).
I gave Joshua his homework and asked him to review the zen tangle book and practice some zen tangles which we would start to work on at every session. I hope. Three hours goes by fast.
Joshua Jacober, first session Sunday, June 24, 2018
A delight to meet Joshua today. I did an overview of what I would like to see occur during our summer sessions and since we are meeting only once a week I am hoping we can continue once shcool begins. I showed Joshua some of the reference material I would be using to teach him about drawing: Betty Edwards, Drawing From The Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Artist Within, Nicolaides, The Natural Way to Draw, Zentangles for a beginner, The Joy of Zentangles, and Perspective, How to See it and How to apply it. Joshua is 15 years old with one studio art class in his history, so, we will start from the beginning, covering the basic principles of art and design and then playing upon and enhancing the unique way in which he has on his own expressed his artistic ideas with his "Compact" drawings. Because he likes to work this way, I will introduce him to Zen Tangling which would be a very natural extention of what he already enjoys doing.
I took some time to show Joshua the typed of materials we will be using and gave him a list of supplies he would need to attain.
For our first session I talked about Line or Contour drawing as a basis for all that would follow. I explained how art is a non verbal language and we could learn something just by looking at his signature. I was a little surprised to learn that Joshua did not know cursive. So, I showed him how to write his name (I think this will be useful in the future!) and asked him to practice it at home. I went on and describe how to put on paper what you see with your own eyes, which is not about expressing, but will lead to having the skills for his unique way of expressing.
I had Joshua get to know his paper with some warm up exercises and playing with the tools that were new to him. I asked him to draw a picture of himself, just from memory.
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After several contour studies, including blind contour and modified contours, I ended our session by having him to a modified contour drawing from an upside down image. You may recognize the face of Abraham Lincoln! Joshua was pleased with it and so was I!
Ojai Artist/Student Mentor Program Friday, June 15, 2018
I am a mentor for the Ojai 2018 Artist/Student Mentor program. I will be working with Joshua Jacober who is 15 years old and a freshman at Nordoff High School. We will be meeting once a week every Sunday until the end of summer or whenever lessons feel complete. Joshua likes to draw so we will be focusing on increasing his drawing skills and how to "see" in order to do that. We will be working with a variety of media and have a variety of on going projects. I will do an interview with Joshua to determine his artistic repetoire, his interests and his goals. When we have completed our sessions, he will be better equipped for any of the art classes he takes in high school and he will be college prepped. I am looking forward to working with Joshua and will enjoy watching his progression. There will be an exhibit at Ojai City Hall towards the end of the year.
This is a piece that Joshua created. He likes to use graphite pencils to make "compact" drawings, a name he uses to describe his very detailed tiny design work.
MARDI GRAS AT THE ART CENTER OJAI Tuesday, February 27, 2018
I'll have all new work in the art case in the lobby for the annual Mardi Gras event. Opening reception takes place March 11th and runs to the end of the month. The theme of which is To Loose to Trek, a play on Toulouse Lautrec the famous parisian artist. I will be displaying a series of Can Can Mardi Gras girls along with many of my little figures.
