For years I was a professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the Hague, the Netherlands where I also received my education.
Learning with
By Jacobina O.
In preparation for the six week course of Color Matters, I am offering an in-depth view of what drawing encompasses. We will use earthy colors like Ochre, Burnt Sienna, middle grey or whatever is available in your color box. You will get twice a week a video about an aspect of a simple still-life that you will compose yourself at home. On Monday and Friday you will receive instructions which we will discuss during the zoom meeting on Wednesday 1 pm. Price $297, when you sign up before March 4 2023 you will get a $100 discount. The first video will be sent Monday March 6.
Price $297.
By Jacobina O.
In this series, with home work, I will discuss a certain color and its complementary. As a subject I will take a small mundane object, for example a vegetable or fruit, which you can draw for half an hour and finish the next day. The idea is accountability and continuation of the practice. Once a week we will talk about your progress via zoom. Twice a week you will receive instructions and examples. Total of 6 one on one sessions, 1 Zoom meeting per week plus unlimited email contact.
Price $297.
learn moreBy Jacobina O.
During a whole month you will receive a video and small talk into your e-mail-box every day, with home work. This is especially designed for busy people who want to be inspired to do something every day but cannot seem to find the time to do so. An apple is a small object that could have different colors and shapes. Check out how that works for you. No day will be the same.
$297, discount of $100 if you sign up before Saturday March 4, 2023.
By learning to draw from the right side of the brain you activate your creative
thinking. Especially for people who do not see themselves as creative thinkers, it
is beneficial to start the re-wiring of the brain to create a better world for
themselves and others.
There is nothing more calming than to create a small corner in your living
quarters where you can sit and observe the world around you. To get over the
engrained conviction that you cannot even draw a stick figure, you need a
teacher. I am offering my experience through 6 on-line meetings for each level.
Here are 3 good reasons why it is valuable to learn to draw.
1) Activate the creative thinking skills.With hard work and intelligence you can go
from A to B. With the imagination you can go anywhere.
2) You can never unlearn this skill.
3) With one brilliant idea you can create millions of dollars.
Drawing Class
Course Description
1) Contour drawing/line
Learning to draw something by letting your eyes really connect with the subject
and allowing your hand to follow instructions without looking at your paper. This
powerful exercise will enable you to eliminate your belief system about your
perception of art.
2) Mirror Image
Drawing something that has an ambiguous feeling to it so that your mind gets
confused is at the center of this exercise. It is not the image in your mind that you
need to be able to draw but what your eyes and your hands tell you. When the mind already
has a preconceived idea of how things should look the result will be
disappointing.
3) Copying/change dimensions
Copying something complicated creates trust in your abilities to see accurately
and re-create a recognizable picture on paper. You will be surprised at how good
you actually are at drawing.
4) Systematic work / draw a hand
When you systematically follow the steps in this course you will have no problem
with finding a way to transform an image from three dimensional reality to your
two dimensional piece of paper. After having taken all the previous steps you are
now ready to accurately draw your own hand.
5) Copy reality / draw an object
After having taken all the previous steps you are now ready to draw an object
that you are holding in your hand. This new skill might surprise you and it also
might feel like a little trick that is not quite real. Please remember, with the
intellectual knowledge you now have, you can basically draw anything you want.
Practice will do the rest.
6) Creating an illusion
First we have flattened a three dimensional image and made it into a two
dimensional outline on paper, now we are creating a third dimensional illusion by
hatching and crosshatching. This is a tediously of adding tones and values to a
drawing going from black to white and all the grey tones in between. Mastering
this will create value to your drawing.
Price $297.
Drawing Class
Introduction
Some people like to draw flowers, some people are crazy about drawing other
people. There are artists who completely focus on drawing buildings, cityscapes
or boats. To draw something really good takes prolonged focus and various ways
to view your subject matter. The more you hone into what you like, the more you
will discover. Whatever you choose, once you get in the habit of seeing, you will
never look at mundane things the same again. You actually will develop
mindfulness and scan the world with a heightened sensitivity.
Course Description
1) The general idea
We touched on the principle of negative space, Where there is an inside there is
an outside. The line is like a border between two shapes. There are five basic
skills of drawing.
1. Edges
2. Spaces
3. Relationships
4. Lights and shadows
5. The Gestalt (The whole together)
2) The chair
The drawing of a mundane object like a chair seems too easy. You already know
what the chair looks like, so why bother? But let’s dive deeper into this subject
because these are lessons in perspective. Drawing a chair is as much about
composition as it is about negative spaces
3) A corner in your house/relationships
Drawing furniture next to a door or a hallway might look like a daunting task but
you are ready for it. We use measuring tools that have been used for centuries
by many artists to get the right proportions.
4) Draw a person/relationships
By a lack of live models, this portion of the class is theoretical and we will use
line templates and measuring tools to give you an idea of how to structure the
features and hair without getting into much detail too fast.
5) Light and shadows
Always know where the light is coming from. When there is direct sunlight you
might want to stop within an hour, because the subject has changed dramatically.
Also include background and other interference.
6) Self portrait
Using a large mirror and one spot light draw your own face using everything you
have learned thus far. Start with a light outline and measure the spaces between
eyes and eye and ear.
Price $297.
Drawing Class
Introduction
In this course I will focus on landscape, since this has still a broad spectrum of
possibilities. Even as broad as this is, you can have preferences of what you like
most, but let’s discover first what is out there. In the former courses I told you
more or less that the object, or the subject of your drawing was not of much
importance rather then the technique in which you were going to train your
drawing skill. Everything was good. A rotten apple, a can opener or a ball of
garlic. The light hits all these objects the same way, there is shade and a dark
side, no matter how mundane your subject is. However, the more you find your
way, the more important it becomes to draw what you love. The more you love
what you draw, the more you are going to discover. Always use the basic drawing
skills when you start.
Course Description
1) Look at the world from a window
Go sit somewhere in your house on a comfortable chair and draw the window,
but also whatever is out there.Use the confined shape of your window to find the
negative shapes. If you don’t like what you see, or it is too complicated, just
move to another window. Just like with drawing the interior, measure various
distances, close by or far away.
2) Thumbnails
Always use the basic drawing skills when you start. Know where the light is
coming from. Squint to see big blotches of grey matter and know which number it
is on the grey scale. Always find a basic unit and scan the horizon for negative
shapes. Find the abstract unknown shapes instead of the things that are already
named. Make ten small rectangles and walk around the block of your house with
the viewfinder. For outside drawing you need a folding chair without arm rests
and a sketch book so that the paper will not blow away. The idea is to do it fast.
3) Composition
In a composition we try to find the balance between dark and light, near and far
and a focal point that leads the eye to something. Perspective is a matter of
choosing the right angle and finding the correct negative shape. Landscapes
often have paths, winding paths and something close-up. When you put
something recognizable in the foreground you add a scale to the entire image.
That in turn gives tremendous depth. Make three small drawings of the same
subject and angle with variations in negative shapes.
4) Draw a tree
Focus on a tree you like and study its trunk, its leaves and branches separately.
Not knowing how to draw tree very often is because we think we know what the
tree looks like, but in all honesty, trees are complicated by lack of straight lines. It
is more important than anywhere else that you focus on negative shapes and
build the tree from relationships from the basic unit. Go close, go far away. Study.
5) Draw a tree next to a house
Block in the tree, get the proportions of both in order, find a path, a driveway with
something in the foreground. It could be a leaf, a bicycle laying on the sidewalk,
or a person.
6) Make a drawing
Pick an exclusive view of some architecture and some nature in the
neighborhood from the thumbnail sketches you have already made, or make new
ones. Use the hatching and crosshatching to give value to your drawing.
Price $297.
Drawing Class
Introduction
There’s a lot to like about drawing with colored pencils. They’re utterly convenient. A handful
of colored pencils and a pad of paper are all you really need to start creating. Prep time and
cleanup are practically non-issues, the materials are light and portable, and you don’t need
messy or toxic solvents. At the same time, colored pencil drawing lends itself to highly refined
and exquisite works of art that rival those created with any other medium.
Colored pencils are relatively inexpensive, and the palette is extensive. The color is pure,
clean and bright. The medium is permanent, and colored pencil drawings do not require elaborate
care or storage.
Anyone who has started drawing as children with Crayola colored pencils, probably has a fondness
for the control and detail they have when using colored pencils to draw. Still, many people are
surprised to find that drawing with colored pencils has become a fine art with the exquisite
execution to rival painting and sculpture. Colored pencil drawings focus on similar shade and
light considerations that dominate watercolor, while also using the shading a blending techniques
of dry media.
Much of the popularity of colored pencils has to do with their portability. As a dry medium,
they are easy to pack in a daily bag, or a suitcase for longer trips, without worrying about
leakage, damage, and spoilage.
This medium is ideal for people who travel extensively and do not have long stretches of
uninterrupted time. I am offering you a special virtual course of making drawings with colored
pencils for six weeks. The subject matter are vegetables on a small piece of cloth like a dishtowel
or napkin. Every week we will look at the results, critique and celebrate.(No more than six
people in a class)
Price $297.
Questions?