The holidays are upon us--Perspective II

I don't know about you, but I am feeling the holiday spirit very early this year. I'm not really sure if it's because of  the encore art show at Blue Moon Coffee or if it's just enjoying life once again from a child's perspective. So often, especially when I'm drawing or painting, I feel like a five year old, playing to my hearts content, which I think is helping me to slow down the time and taking a break to embrace the day. It's been a long time coming, but I think I've finally arrived at enjoying the present, more than ever. So enough of my stuff, let's move on to some fun things:

Encore Student Art Show December 6th
Let me invite you to the Encore Student Art Show next month. Since we are scheduled to be at Blue Moon for two months, we thought a second  reception was in order, this time with a holiday theme complete with new art, new cards and new gift ideas. So come by on Sunday, December 6 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Blue Moon Coffee in Lake Oswego. Grab yourself a warm cup of coffee, enjoy the new art, peruse the students' portfolios, if you didn't get to them the first time around, and maybe even purchase a cool Holiday card or a lovely present. (click graphic)

Perspective Part II--One Point

Last issue I talked about the horizon line (your eye level), which is a hard concept for people to understand. Hopefully you now have a better understanding of it. Today, I'd like to go over  simple one-point perspective. As I've done is classes before, look at these two line drawings below (click graphic):

The lines going to the vanishing point are called orthogonals. I just call them vanishing lines since they vanish into the distance. One-point perspective is when all the vanishing lines converge on one point (see photo below, click on it for a larger view). Next month, I'll cover a little more about this and touch upon two-point perspective. Let me know if this helping. And one more thing: Happy Thanksgiving!

Student Show, Perspective Part I

Student Show a Grand Success!

The first "Drawing from the Heart" student show was a huge success. Over 50 people attended the reception on Sunday, November 8th held at the Blue Moon Coffee shop in Lake Oswego. We will have an encore reception on December 6th with fresh holiday gift items from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Please join us.

Perspective, Part I

For the next few months, I will be covering perspective. Let’s start with the most confusing concept: horizon line.

So many of us have problems with perspective. For years, I had the hardest time understanding it, and I think my main problem was the idea of the horizon line (HL). No matter how many books I read, how many people I talked with, it just was one big puzzle.

I think my confusion was based on the traditional concept of the horizon. As all of us, I was taught that the horizon was where the sky met the ground. But that's NOT necessarily the horizon line in art. So for now, please try to forget that whole idea.

Instead, your horizon line is YOUR eye level. As an example, I’d like you to take your hand in a horizontal fashion up to your eyes. Then move it forward—what do you see? That’s your eye level—your horizon line. Now stand up and do the same thing. The horizon line has just moved up. Sit down on the floor and do the same. The horizon line has moved down. What you are doing is seeing different horizontal lines or your eye level as you move up and down.

You can do the same exercise with your camera. Place your camera up to your eye and change your different eye levels. When a photographer takes a picture through her viewfinder, she is looking at the landscape at her eye level or the horizon line. I hope this helps you to understand this complicated, but in fact, fairly easy principle.

Next month, we’ll cover vanishing points and lines.