Distracted from... what? - Tara ChoateTara Choate

I have been very distracted this weekend. To a degree that is unusual for me. While I can’t say my weekends (or life in general) are hyper-focused, I can usually follow a conversation without trouble. But when my friend Mary Margaret came over on Saturday for another zoom drawing class from Nora Sherwood, I honestly had trouble listening to Mary Margaret’s friend updates (you know, how kids, pets, etc. are doing) but I couldn’t following along with Nora. Fortunately, I was at a table with art supplies, so I was able to occupy myself very contentedly. However, I have no idea if this is what Nora recommended I do.

Apparently, we started with shading. This makes sense. The title of the class is “Shading and 3D Form Boot Camp – Graphite”. So some part of me was listening to something.

“Make a scale with eleven squares and mark them 0 through 10. 0 is the white of the paper, ten is as black as you can make it. Then increase (or decrease) progressively.” So, naturally, I made a circle with eight parts.

While everyone else was completing the exercise with various pencil types, I did another scale using just a graphite stick.

Then I decided to do it again with crosshatching.

At some point we must have switched to objects. Unable to follow directions, I hadn’t made a lightbox or brought an egg.

Not an egg, but at least edible.

Following along for the briefest amount of time on the shading lecture.

Obviously, I couldn’t possibly be expected to only do the exercises (even on my non-distracted days, I work too fast for that). So, I brought out some American Easel giveaway panels (from WSO events) and played with a drawing from last month’s class.