Intro to Street Art: September 2009

I had the pleasure of working with Simon throughout the month - facilitating him in the art of spray paint and stencil-making. Originally, he was one of my "Adult Drawing" students, but on his own initiative - he came to me with some sketches and an idea, and we took it from there. Below is a detail of his Oarfish painting. Congratulations Simon!

For a current PONSHOP class schedule, click here. Classes in Street Art, Skateboard Design, and more are held every month.

Through an Architect's Eyes: July 2009

This workshop took advantage of the remarkably comfortable July weather. For three 2-hour sessions, I took my student on an architectural walking tour of downtown Fredericksburg. I gave instruction on map-making, perspective drawing, and projected drawing (plan, section, and elevation) and demonstrated different techniques on representing space and structures.

We also did contour drawings of the city's skyline - here students are instructed to (without looking at the page) follow the building terrain from the rooftops.

Trey shows off his sketchbook during the final class...

We also studied the local train bridge and talked about building form, material, and structure (above and below).

The local train station was the ideal place to give an exercise in perspective drawing (above and below).

For a current PONSHOP Class Schedule, Click Here

"Mixing the Media": June 2009

June 2009: Grace participated in the "Mixing The Media" workshop and, within 3 sessions, created some great mixed media pieces. In this class, students are encouraged to create a "landscape" of imagery with found images and text. The student then interacts with the collage using painting and drawing. Below are some images from the final class. Good Job Grace! (click images to enlarge)

Grace used magazine clippings, acrylic paint, and stencils to construct her piece.

She also did a stencil piece on wood with her favorite song lyrics written in the background.

Her Stencil was derived from a series of drawing exercises we did during the first class.

Click Here for a complete PONSHOP class schedule.

Private Student Sessions: Mixed Media

I had the pleasure of working with David again - this time for a mixed media workshop. His patience and attention to detail allowed him to layer up this composition on canvas. Check the progress and final pics below. Congratulations David!

David "built up" his painting into a landscape, with a clear delineation between land and sky. He used magazine cut outs to show buildings and figures in space. Acrylic paint and spray paint with stencils were used as well.

Final Painting (click to enlarge)

Family Portrait with the artist...

Click Here for a complete PONSHOP class schedule.

Adult Drawing: September 2008

Full Scale Self Portrait: Krissy (left) Gabe (right)

September ushered in a refreshing Adult Drawing Workshop. My student, Krissy, is a high school Junior whose interest in drawing and painting brought her to take this workshop. This workshop encourages students to make a habit out of drawing by keeping a sketchbook and practicing exercises to "strengthen" the students way of seeing and drawing. Below are some examples:

Need a model to draw? draw your hands...(above)Marker sketches of statues in still life. (click to enlarge)

For a current PONSHOP class schedule click here.

Intro to Street Art: September 2008

Nick followed up his "Skate to Create" workshop with the "Intro to Street Art" class. He was interested in creating his own style of letters, so we wasted no time getting down to business with sketching and painting...

Nick learned some "can control" while making his outlines and fills (above and below).

The finished product for his bedroom wall...

For a current PONSHOP Class schedule, click here.

Mixing The Media: August 2008

In the "Mixing The Media" workshop, students combined scraps of paper, acrylic paint, spray paint and stencils to create their compositions. Grace and Jeff were excellent students and methodically layered their boards with images,color, and form until complete.

Grace used xerox copies of earlier sketches as well as magazine clippings and some stock stencils in her collage.

Jeff brought his own artillery of stencils to the class and used them to adorn the perimeter of his collage. We concentrated on creating a "space" for the figures in the foreground, using layers of gesso and spraypaint over the newsprint text.

As a quick painting exercise, Grace painted a 6"x6" wood block portrait of her dog Farrah.

Thanks to all students that participated in this summer's workshops.
For a current PONSHOP Class schedule, click here.

Intro to Street Art: August 2008

Below are some snapshots from the August "Intro to Street Art" workshop. Grace paid homage to her favorite pet by making a stencil and spray paint composition. Throughout the three-session workshop she drew, painted, and sprayed until the piece was complete. (Click Images to Enlarge)

For a current PONSHOP Class schedule, click here.

Skate To Create: August 2008

I had a fresh crop of students for the "Skate to Create" Workshop in August. Nick and Jason put in three sessions of hard work and the results were really great. Scroll down to see their process...(click pics to enlarge)

Drawing and cutting takes up about 3/4 of the class time - but it's where all the design happens.Jason (aka J-Dogg) does an "X-Ray self portrait" for his deck graphic.Nick took one of his sketches from home and transposed it into this camouflage-like design.
Congratulations guys on a job well done...
For a current PONSHOP Class schedule, click here.

July Art Workshops: Adult Drawing /Skate to Create

July was by far the fastest moving month to date. One minute, we're celebrating the fourth of July, and in the blink of an eye, we're re-hanging our studio in preparation for the August First Friday. I did have the pleasure of working with two of the most intelligent and hard-working students last month in my "Adult Drawing" and "Skate to Create" workshops. Below are some samples of their work:

Full scale self-portrait (Leah on the left, Gabe on the right)

Leah will be a senior in high school this year and to keep her drawing skills sharp for the upcoming year, she took the "Adult Drawing" workshop. We did a number of exercises including a full-scale self portrait (above) as well as classic sketch studies such as hand sketches and still life drawing. The major focus of this workshop is to encourage students to maintain a 'habit' of working in their sketchbooks. Creativity, like athletics, can only be sustained if it is exercised often and the sketchbook is the vehicle which allows one to continue to explore and hone their techniques.

Full scale self-portrait (detail)

Sketchbook exercise: hand poses

Studio Still Life: matryoshka dolls (above, below)

The "Skate to Create" workshop is the most popular among teens this year. I've seen a lot of great designs and met some great kids so far. July's workshop was no exception. Michael gave 110% the entire time and he managed to finish his work with some spare time for us to skate in front of the shop. Below is a sequence from his classes. He chose to use his nickname "Travis" for his deck graphic.

Stencil Sequence: (top to bottom: drawing, cutting, layers 1-3)

Applying the final layer of colors - gradient from red to brown.
One happy camper - the completed deck, ready to rip!
For a current schedule of classes offered at the PONSHOP, click here. I'll be offering another series of art workshops for children, teens, and adults through August and September.