Reflection: For this exploration, I tried to think of something that was challenging or difficult for me to do when I was a younger art student, but also something I felt really helped me grow artistically. I always hyper-focused on getting the detail just right on a drawing—-but I neglected thinking about light sources or making strong shapes in a composition. I think not just in realism, but in abstract art, observing an entire image is important. The longer students look deeply, the better their efforts will be when they attempt to replicate something they see, whether that is a portrait, a still life, or drawing from a reference. Sometimes tackling a huge still life can be overwhelming, especially when you see all the details or textures of all the objects. But when you look past the items, and try and just look for the shapes created in the positive and negative spaces, or the shadows surrounding the object, you get a better idea of how to break down complicated images. 

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Students don’t need to draw anything in particular, they just need to choose items or objects that interest them. Giving students a choice, or limitless options, can make lessons more interesting to them— compared to telling students to copy a still life you have set up, with abstract cubes and boring things they never use in daily life. Looking at something ordinary— in a different way, is always a good exercise for a developing creative mind!