one-line drawings | Mama Cormier

….another great on-line art class with Carla Sonnheim and Lynn Whipple

In December I signed up for a year long on-line art class with two great artists, Carla Sonheim and Lynn Whipple. The class is called Year of the Spark and twice a month each teacher presents a lesson and several fun assignments. So far the assignments have been designed to get our hands moving and look at art and drawing in new ways.

Carla’s first class had us drawing dozens of one line sketches of animals, flowers, and houses and then choosing one favourite and drawing it again using many different types of drawing tools. We had to choose one finished piece in the end and frame it. Here are some of my one liners and my framed piece.

As much as I liked my dog drawings I decided to elaborate on my birds.

As you can see these drawings are intended to be fun and whimsical.

This week Lynn introduced us to pattern drawing and creating cards using people from old photos and a multitude of shapes of cut up papers. I’ve played with the pattern portion of the assignment but I haven’t yet started the card assignment.

The pattern assignment is a warm-up activity but I’m so addicted to this random doodling that it’s taking me hours to finish one page. Tomorrow I’m going to have to try to work faster and maybe use only watercolours to create my patterns. Keep it simple.

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….thanks Cee for 4 more great questions

Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?

I don’t come from a family of huggers but I’ve learned to hug over the years. I actually enjoy hugging family and friends but I’m a little put off by strangers who want to hug you. I’ve also become more careful as to whom and when I hug, especially students. Most children love to hug and usually initiate the action but over the years I’ve noticed that some just aren’t comfortable hugging and I have to respect their personal space. Unfortunately for male teachers it’s more risky to hug students and most of my male colleagues are very careful about any type of physical interaction with students

What’s your favorite ice-cream flavor?

I love all flavours of ice-cream but If I have to choose I’d say cinnamon or coffee flavoured ice-cream.

Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?

I love a bit of both but lately I think I do more exercising of the mind. I play scrabble daily and love the puzzles in the newspaper, especially Sudoko. When the weather isn’t too cold I love to walk and I do enjoy restorative Yoga.

Are you more of a dog person or a cat person? Why?

I’ve owned both cats and dogs but I am definitely more of a dog person. We currently own a dog named Frances and in the past we owned two Golden Retrievers for 23 years (back to back, not at the same time). I’m not sure why but all our dogs are and were females. As much as we loved our cat, the dogs were always more active and demanding of our time. For many people that would be a reason to prefer cats but the dogs get us out and walking and enjoying our surroundings. They also bring neighbours together. We may not know everybody’s name but they all know the dog’s name.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that my husband’s surgery is over with and that it went well. He’s home now and is recovering quickly.

This week I’m looking forward to going back to work and do more of my art assignments for Year of the Spark. So far I’ve only done a few of my one-line drawings and I’m anxious to elaborate on some of them.