Drawing by Susan Rubin

Workshop Leader: Muriel Appelbaum. Muriel is a working artist with an MFA in Studio Art from Pratt Institute in NYC. She mostly draws from nature—landscapes, people, and live animals. See her artwork at www.murielappelbaum.com.

Drawing is another way of tuning into the natural world around us. When we look closely at a landscape or a seascape, we notice more about it. The same thing happens when we look closely at a leaf or at an animal. Notice how very different the shape of a box turtle’s shell is from the shell of a water turtle. Right! I guess that’s why it’s called a box turtle. Once I observed the difference in the shape of the two turtle shells, I could draw the outlines of the two shells. And the more I looked at the turtles, the more I saw. Observing differences is a good way to start tuning in to nature. If I had a dark-blue colored pencil, and one with a lighter blue lead, I could easily show myself the difference between the two colors on a piece of paper. Then I could look at the blue sky and notice it’s a different color near the horizon, compared to straight up. Now I could use the two blue colors in my drawing to show the difference. Shapes, colors, shadows—they tell us more about the natural world. I will be leading a drawing workshop at SoFo on most Wednesdays in July and August and on most weekends starting in September. Join us when you can. We’ll be using our observational skills to draw the natural world around us.

Advance reservations are required for all events. For more information, reservations, and directions to meeting places, please call: (631) 537-9735.

Additional Program Date:

Saturday, September 29— 10:30am