Elsie Dentes by her quilts

Materials:

"Brooklyn artist/gardener Sean-Michael Fleming and his shadowbox fabric collage at the Celebrate Urban Birds! Workshop"

Observation

This is the most important component of creating art - look carefully.  Many people see with their brain.  We have preconceived ideas of what a tree or a bird looks like.  These are conventional images in our minds.  Artists train their eye to override these ingrained images and to see purely through their eyes and then record what they see, and/or what it makes them feel. 

In this exercise, see purely through your eyes.

Observe the bird itself.  Consider its overall shape, then the sub-shapes that form its position.  Notice the colors and how they change depending on how the light falls on the different parts of the bird. Perceive the visual texture of the wings versus the head or chest or legs.

Finally, consider the bird’s environment.  What is the typical habitat for your bird species?  How much of its environment do you want to include?  Is it on a nest?  If so, what is the nest made of?  Do you want to include a background…perhaps a city skyline, a park setting, or some cattails at the water’s edge?

Now use your powers of observation and create your own,
original art.   Most importantly…… HAVE FUN!

Learn more about the artist, Elsie Dentes.

                                                                                                                                   Copyright 2008 Elsie P.L. Dentes