Expression, Energy & Music For Gesture Drawings & Paintings

In a recent session at our art classes – both acrylic and watercolour - led by our tutor David, we discussed our ability to capture life, energy, and emotion in our paintings, causing us to ‘feel’ life in the work, as much as to be visually entertained by it.
Producing art and paintings with life and energy has many challenges.  There are guidelines and techniques, but there are no rules.  No certainties.
Focusing heavily upon techniques in our paintings will strangely cause ‘it’ to remain elusive.  The artist must engage one’s body and spirit in the process, allowing the body to be more of the instrument/conduit for making the marks than the mind!  
So our tutor David had us retirees doing something very different – drawing in continuous lines to a variety of music – fast, rock, gentle, easy listening. The watercolour group together produced a long continuous sheet of marks using charcoal, while the acrylic group discovered coloured mark making – again as a team. When they weren’t arranging furniture, that is.
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