Claudia Post Fine Art

This is a project that my gifted students are working on composing drapery into interesting shapes on a 3 x 6 foot pressed board. Three of them brought in a great variety of fabrics, some metallic, some velvet, some lace, some glittery, some sheer and they all were part of the arrangement of these fabrics to make an interesting composition. The we used a spot light to illuminate the set up. Then they cropped and composed again and began a drawing with sharpened nu pastels on U Art Paper. It was a new surface for each of them and a new idea for learning to do an academic drawing of drapery. They loved it and it was exciting to see their works progress with each step. At one point their work looked abstract in composition but using good drawing draftsmanship . I then had them use a wash of Turpentine to fill in the shadow parts of their drawings and then a build up of color from dark to light. I will get more photos for you to see. The student in my photo is Shannan Blencowe , the daughter of a fine artist and friend Jan Blencowe. Shannon is only 16 yrs. and will have a very professional portfolio to show when applying to college next year.

This is my student Shannon Gilmore working on her set up

This is Shannon Gilmore's completed pastel painting (photographed by Caryn Davis Photography) I think it was a great exercise for the students and an amazing result as well. It took at least four to 6 full days to complete for each student but the amount they learned in drawing, drapery and folds, using a new pastel surface, building up color with pure pigment and in great composition was just wonderful.