We are half way through our second Art Lab, which is about giant ink drawings. As part of this lesson, the girls have been doing a Susan Schwake Artist Study. Actually, it was more of a picture study but Susan Schwake didn’t name the giant ink picture she used for the lesson:
I wanted the girls to try to copy Schwake’s style before moving on to their final piece for Art Lab 2: Giant Ink Drawings.
Susan Schwake Artist Study: Discussing the Art
We had a long chat about the main features of Schwake’s ink and paint drawing. I had the girls point out everything they noticed. Becca noticed that the items in front were more forward than the items behind, and that the apple was behind the pear and the bottle. Abs noticed the thick outlines, and the fact that the still life takes up a large part of the page:
I pointed out the variety of colours used for each item, and the black strokes which are used to add dimension. Also, for the sake of Becca’s perfectionism, I helped her to see that each item was not an exact replica of the thing being drawn and that was the beauty of it.
Susan Schwake Artist Study: Setting Up the Still Life
I tried to set up a still life as close to Susan’s as possible. I placed it in the middle of the two girls so both had a good perspective on it:
Susan Schwake Artist Study: Painting in ink
I gave the girls an A3 sheet of thick watercolour paper. This would prevent any wrinkling when the wet ink was used. With paint brushes and ink the girls began to draw their still life in the style of Susan Schwake:
Becca wasn’t happy with her drawing, and as I could immediately see what the main problem was (the middle bottle was too thin) she redrew it on the back. She was much happier with her second attempt:
Susan Schwake Artist Study: Painting with Watercolours
The girls left their giant ink drawings to dry before they began painting in the colour. I instructed them to start with the lighter colours, and leave to dry before adding the next layer of colour:
And here are the results. First Abigail’s:
And then Becca’s:
They signed their own picture and I popped it up in our mini gallery:
A great artist study, and a perfect start to next week’s art lab on giant ink drawings!
😍❤️