Learning How to Draw People

It’s never too late to learn new things in life at any age and Deborah Bishop is no exception. As a retired member of the Board of Supervisors in Riverside, she decided to start taking art classes and discover new art techniques 3 years ago. Bishop learned about the Redlands Art Association after attending the Redlands Garden Show. Bishop drives from Moreno Valley to take various classes and recently took a “The 20 Minute Portrait” with Richard Stergulz, she took the class because she had never drawn people before and decided to try it out. The class was from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sat April 5th and Stergulz went over and discussed his techniques of portrait set up, including light and shadow, in 20 minutes. The class consisted of 7 to 8 people and they all left with four different 8x10 portraits. The class sat at different angles around the model so everyone was able to get a different view for their painting. Bishop said, “I personally thought that the profile was harder to do than from a straight angle.” As the class progressed and everyone learned how to blend colors together to create a new color for the flesh tone, Stergluz went around the room helping students. Bishop stated, “He was very patient and was very helpful and would come up behind me and tell me how to do a different technique such as holding my brush, which is something that never occurred to me.” Bishop shared, “it’s a lot of fun, it’s very relaxing and you can learn a lot from the artists and can get ideas from them, and it’s a nice atmosphere with a camaraderie of artists and people getting together.” The Redlands Art Association has workshops in a variety of mediums including; ceramic sculptures, clay teapots, and copper jewelry coming up. There are classes available for youth and adults. For more information, the website is http://redlands-art.org/.