Kristen Doty workshop weekend!!!

This past weekend went by waaay too fast! I attended a two day workshop with Kristen Doty from the state of Washington. She was quite a good teacher and extraordinary colored pencil artist as well as a superb calligrapher... lending an easy transition from one to the other. She knew what "us calligraphers" already are familiar with and are used to working with so it was easier for her to instruct us using the things that she knew we already had such as analyzing counter space, really looking at something and trying to determine how it is comprised, etc. We had several exercises that she made us PUSH THROUGH that were downright painful, but I felt it was necessary to get to the next echelon of my learning. I never do my best work in workshops with all the distractions, the uncomfortableness of the work space/chairs, lighting, etc... but felt that I progressed in that little amount of time. Some of the final pieces that were being created were so impressive. It made me want to practice illustration so much more to get to the Next Level! Here is the class photo and a few more that were created in the class.

The one to the right of Kristen analyzing her hand was an exercise that we did to study light and shading as well as contour drawing. The actual example of the hand below was from one of the students in the class who was not quite a beginner, but not advanced, either. Most of the "hands" looked like that. I wish I knew whose this one was... Sorry! My hand drawing is still a work in progress and you'd think I had dipped my hands in ink or was an African American if you saw it in it's present state. Still working on the LIGHT and taking the SHADING out of my hand drawing..with erasure. Kristen's website is www.kristendoty.com