Sessions #5 – shades of a shadow

This was a study in values, ranging across six different shades of light and dark:

• highlight – the brightest part of the drawing
• midtones – the range of tones still in the light area but darker than the highlight
• shadow edge – separates the portion that is directly in light (the highlight and midtones) from the portion that is cast in shadow; it is almost like a dividing line
• cast shadow – the shape of the area defined by the object’s shadow; darkest portion is immediately next to the object that is casting the shadow
• core shadow – where the cast shadow and midtones meet and touch; it is the darkest part of a shadow on an object but it is never completely black
• reflected light – darker than the midtones while being the lightest areas of the cast shadow

I’ve done this exercise before with styrofoam balls, but this was my first time using an egg. There was something intriguing about using the egg – it had beads of perspiration on its shell by the time I finished the drawings, and it had a tendency to roll towards me, as my desk is in room with an ever-so-slightly slanted floor.

In all the drawings I did as part of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, there was always a ground placed on the page prior to drawing. This made it much easier for me to create a range of shades. However, the purpose of this exercise was to “build up the value and the form using hatching and cross-hatching as well as planning around the highlights.”

Sessions #4 – Shadows

I like the effect of including shadows in drawings. The contrast between light and dark areas provides a sense of depth and substance. Yes, I know, my perspective still needs work! And with the first drawing, I had difficulty seeing the difference between shadows and “less bright direct light”  and need to better observe the shape of the object’s shadow.

Sessions #3 – Gesture & Structural drawings

This exercise was to create two sets of gesture drawings and one set of structural drawings. I had to arrange two different still lifes and for each set of still life objects craft  two gesture drawings, each drawing from a different view. After creating a total of four gesture drawings, I had to choose a view from each set and then make a structural drawing based on that view.

Conceptually I understand the idea of a gesture drawing – quick strokes designed to show the mass of an object. However, my “will” kept interfering with the concept, so that my gesture drawings did not wind up being crafted according to the rules of gestures. My drawings are “a bit too tight…Gesture drawings should be done very rapidly and typically with one continuous line.…build up the mass of the object by drawing not the outlines, but rather lines to build up the interior mass. There is a difference between sketch drawings (which are loose drawings) [and are what I appear to have made] and gesture drawings (which use line to represent mass).”

Structural drawings rely on lines to convey the basic shapes and forms of the object. The basic forms in drawing tend to be a cube, sphere and a cylinder. Structural drawings, using positive and negative space, are meant to show how these forms connect to create the shape of an object.

The overall goal for this exercise was to convey a “sense of form”, so my drawings work on this basic level, but there is definitely room for improvement!  I’m just sharing the ones for which I wound up crafting both gesture and structural drawings.

Sessions #2 – Contours & Perspective

My second online drawing assignment was to sketch three contour drawings of the same objects, each time rearranging the objects in a different scenario. Having drawn my first contour sketch at home at the end of June, and not being pleased with the results, I figured the best way to relax and enjoy the process was to wait till we were on Cape Cod for July vacation. As hoped, I found objects in our wonderful rental house that begged to be drawn.

This assignment was supposed to focus on contours, which is essentially drawing the outlines of the basic shapes of objects, and perspective, which means keeping objects proportional and in relation to one another. For the most part, I found this a relaxing exercise, but drawing an ellipse for a foreshortened round table eluded me!

I did not have the opportunity to draw the third contour while on the Cape, but am eager to try the next drawing lesson. Alas, I have not been doing a sketch a day, which was something I mentioned back in early June. Somewhat unrelated, though, is the good news that the weather has turned more summery, and swimming beckons

ARTZ, Authors and Alzheimer’s

This post owes its thanks to a conversation with Karen Kruger on Tuesday, at the first Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity conference. More on the conference in upcoming posts, but for now, it’s ARTZ and Authors, all related to Alzheimer’s.

ARTZ
Karen began by telling me about ARTZ, Artists for Alzheimer’s. Art as therapy has long been a useful tool for assisting people with myriad health issues, right up there in positive impact with music, dance and pet therapy. “The ARTZ Museum Partnership Program implements interactive, educational museum programs for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.” My Dad is unable to visit a museum, but perhaps I can bring “art” to him. I see him respond to my singing of songs and playing of his favorite oldies (Frank Sinatra always hits home); perhaps art – both viewing and creating (why not finger painting!) – will also tweak a memory or provoke a positive response.

AUTHORS
Still Alice was written by neuroscientist Lisa Genova, whose grandmother had Alzheimer’s. Lisa had the benefit of being a scientist who could understand the mental deterioration that was taking place in her grandmother’s brain, but it left her wondering how a person with Alzheimer’s felt as their cognition slipped away. From this curiosity came Still Alice. Thanks to a book journal given me by my oldest son, I’ve been writing about the books I read, and here’s what I wrote about this book back in March.

Deb S. loaned me this book. written by a Harvard PhD in neuroscience and online columnist for the National Alzheimer’s Association, it is a fictionalized yet highly informed look at one woman’s descent into dementia after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. The woman, Alice, is a Harvard professor with three grown children and a husband, also a Harvard researcher. They have a summer home on the Cape, in Chatham. Yes, the ending is a tear jerker – Alice is alive but has lost so much of her capability to communicate. Lisa’s insights into Alice’s mindset seem spot on and I wish-I wish-I wish that I had read a book like this when Dad was in the early stages. Perhaps I could have been more helpful to him.

I did not read verbatim, and intentionally read quickly, because this topic and story – particularly this story – were too close to home. Fred and I teach at the same school. We’ve spent many glorious, soothing summers on the Cape. We have two incredible children. I cried for Alice but nestled deep down perhaps I cried for me. I could have the gene my Dad has, and that portends a future I don’t want to contemplate, certainly not until or unless it becomes apparent that I need to contemplate it.

And that is the most honest I’ve been about Alzheimer’s! This was a sad story but also somehow encouraging, because Alice had a voice. This is Alice’s story.

Karen also recommended another book, which I have ordered, I’m Still Here: A Breakthrough Approach to Understanding Someone Living with Alzheimer’s by John Zeisel. Am very much looking forward to reading it, and of course, will share my thoughts in a later post.

Sessions #1 – in my drawing ZPD

First Sessions Online drawing lesson. Pencil feels good in hand. Warm up exercises followed by a sketch of an everyday object. Goal was to sketch object without getting fussy about it. Just jump in and draw. Coffee pot evokes Fred’s morning brew. I know, top perspective is off. Not sure I like this staccato post but will give it a try as a stream of consciousness post, without getting fussy about it. One thing is certain, I am in my drawing ZPD! And am going to try a sketch a day.

1-connect the dots by drawing 10 random dots and then trying to connect them with flowing straight lines

 

2-draw a series of parallel lines across and top to bottom to foster smooth control of hand and pencil

 

3 and 4-draw clockwise and counter-clockwise spirals to continue warming up hand control of pencil

 

5-our Braun coffee maker, sketched Sunday evening

 

another cup of coffee

Visual Aphorisms

An aphorism is a handy means of expressing an idea succinctly and cleverly. And aphorisms are WORDS. But words are not the only means of expressing ideas!

The Eide Neurolearning Blog, which is devoted to “neurologically-based approaches to learning and learning differences”, has a poll on “How Do You Solve Problems” that offers a number of choices, only one of which involves using words. 

Indeed, it is not always possible to come up with the words you want when trying to describe something. Although, if stumped, here is an interesting online application, Tip of My Tongue, that tries to help you “find that word that you’ve been thinking about all day but just can’t seem to remember.”

In Thinking in Images: Nine Tips for Communicating Visually, Stanley Leary quotes Aristotle:

There can be no words without images

and shares a suggestion I have heard elsewhere – that of using charades to coax thinking visually about ideas.

My husband naturally thinks visually. Here are some of his visual aphorisms, created with SketchUp. You can see the more of these visual aphorisms at Design With SketchUp. (Note, the images will soon be catalogued under 9 & 10 ‘08.)

Pearls of Wisdom

 

Esoteric Idea

 

Thinking along the same lines

 

Thinking outside the box

 

Brainstorm

My Visual Thinking

As a kid, the walls and door of my room resembled giant bulletin boards that I crafted in a patch work of collages. The door looked like it had been decoupaged. You can get a sense of what my room looked like from this picture of my office wall.

I loved to doodle and make home made birthday cards for relatives. People used to, and still do, complement my hand writing, and I did the calligraphy for our wedding invitations.

Listening to lectures and talks, unless the speaker is dynamic or I take notes, has always been difficult. Same goes for listening to lengthy podcasts.

In my early twenties I took classes at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, and my first two jobs provided opportunity to focus on layout and design. It quickly became apparent to me, however, that my strengths were elsewhere, as I was more people-oriented than design-oriented.

Teaching combines my interests in people and visual design, coupling daily personal interaction with the presentation and design enabled by teaching and computers.

I marvel at the sketchbooks my husband fills with doodles, tinkerings, thoughts and words. His SketchUp designs are both digital doodles and fully formed creations.

Every time I’ve participated in a drawing workshop – Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain or the CAIS sessions on visual thinking led by Dave Gray – my brain has been (re)ignited. Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen blog and book by the same name and Nancy Duarte’s blog slide:ology and book are among my favorite resources.

And all of the above is why I took the plunge and participated in yesterday’s Global Online Visual Thinking workshop. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but you can be sure the experience will find its way into my blog!

Words, Wordle, Visual Word Maps

For those of you who have read some of my previous posts, you may recall I’ve mentioned the program Wordle, which is a free online app that lets you create a word map from a selection of text. And if you’ve read my most recent posts, you know a current topic of interest is visual thinking.

Well, now that both the Democrat and Republican presidential conventions are over, and with just about 8 weeks to go till the next U.S. president is elected, with the aid of a visual word map, here is a look at how the content of the conventions stack up. (p.s. Thanks to Andrew G for sending the link to this article.)

The graphic comes from, and you can read a few sentences of accompanying text, as well as see it full size, at: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/09/04/us/politics/20080905_WORDS_GRAPHIC.html

CAIS: Dave Gray on Visual Thinking in Practice

My last workshop of the CAIS conference was Dave Gray’s session on Visual Thinking in Practice. He charged us with an exercise designed to assist with empathetically contemplating our students, particularly those who have issues with school.

We were each asked to think of a student whose name might come up in a conversation with other teachers when discussing students with issues. Next came the visualization of that student.

1. Draw a large oval on the page. This oval represents the student’s head. At the top of the page write the student’s name, and under that write the question that might spring from the student when s/he is talking to you about their issue. In my case the question was: Why should I spend my personal, after-school time on school related issues?
2. Next add to the head, in the upper right quadrant, an eye peering to the right. In the lower right quadrant add a mouth talking to the right. Between the two quadrants, on the outline of the head, draw a nose pointing to the right.
3. On the left side, on the outline of the head, draw an ear. Add some hair to the top of the head, and draw a dotted line down the middle of the head, labeling the top left Pain and the top right Gain.

The drawing represents an empathy map. Once the picture is drawn, the next steps are to fill in the portions of the map the way you think the student would fill them in. What would the student be seeing, saying, hearing, doing (the bottom portion of the head) and feeling (the top portion of the head)?

Dave suggested that in addition to having teachers draw such maps, have the students in question draw one for themselves.  While this may be a time consuming practice if done for every child whose name comes up in conversation, even doing one such map periodically would help teachers remember that there are always reasons for why students perform and behave the way they do.

Another helpful exercise is one Gray calls Node Generation, which has two objectives, both leading to “as the person would think or say it in his/her own words”. The idea is to generate questions using silent sticky note capture.

1. A question or fill-in-the-blank statement is posed.
2. Everyone quietly writes one reply on a sticky note, filling out as many sticky notes as possible in the time allocated.
3. Attach each sticky note to a large board or wall.

This process gives everyone a voice. Ideally, everyone is so busy generating their own sticky notes that they do not veto others or self-censor themselves.

The next exercise is called a Bottom-Up Tree. This is where all those stickys on the board are prioritized and organized. At this point you can appreciate why sticky notes are used; they are very easy to move around. As the organization process starts to jell, think about possible “headlines” for each group of notes. Eventually, you wind up with a sense-making system.

Other than art teachers, I have never heard of teachers using visual thinking techniques when thinking about their craft. I am reminded of Ken Robinson and others, who have commented on how schools teach creativity and drawing right out of kids. Those kids grow up and some of them become teachers. How many of us were those kids?

Here are some additional resources on visual thinking.

VizThink, Jan 2008 – video interviews with Lee & Sachi LeFever-Common Craft videos and Scott McCloud-comic book author

Visual thinking school on squidoo

Dave Gray’s post – Visual thinking practice: Draw a stick figure

Online Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms

Visual Thinking Strategies

Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch – working memory model referenced by Dave Gray during this session