Friday, March 26, 2010

the nature of organic form and sunrise in florida

6x6 pastel on BFK
This is the pastel I did yesterday morning. The light haze rising from the water was so compelling. I sit now in Starbucks waiting to see what this morning's light will reveal.

While I wait, here are more tidbits from Sadie's wonderful workshop... Enjoy!

Put aside your verbal knowledge of nature. Visualize and remember these most important notes from Sadie.

The nature of organic form, whether the human arm or a sycamore tree, follow these tenets:
*It is always tapered, never parallel.
*It is always convex or pushing out, never concave. Even when something looks concave it is really made up of a series of convexities.
*Everything spirals-trees and arms included. It spirals in both directions although one direction is more prominent.
*Everything is interlocking.

9 comments:

Casey Klahn said...

Sounds like she's describing movement or motion. The interlocking part does tweak my curiosity!

Thanks for getting up and posting!

Nika said...

These are good points.
I remember another one:
Most human body lines follow an S curve, they are never straight.
And of course, there's always an exception for every one of these:)
Good work!

SamArtDog said...

This is a poem. Call it "Sadie's Rules".

Though "everything is interlocking", the reflection in your painting is outstanding.

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

I'd like to hear more about "put aside your verbal knowledge of nature"! Sounds like you are getting a lot out of the workshop -- and enjoying the Florida morning sunrises, too! Great painting.

Jala Pfaff said...

Love these dark violets. Tasty.

Thanks for the succinct notes.

loriann signori said...

Hi Casey, Interlocking parts...for instance a hand and an arm are parts we have named and know thru verbal knowledge. There is no division they are one..no line to cut across. the spiral that goes down the arm continues round the hand. I don't know if I explain it well. It pertains to your love, trees too. Branches are extensions no divisions. The spirals go continuously from trunk to branch. Sounds like something we know but when drawing like that it is a difference. Sorry if I can't explain it well enough. Check out Sadie's blog for more.

Hi Nika!
You are right not straight and not parallel. Thanks.

Hi Sam! I like your poem. I told Sadie about it.Thanks about the painting too!

Hi Katherine!
I will write more about the workshop when I return home and have processed it. I feel this will be a life changing moment.

loriann signori said...

Hi Jala, Thanks about the painting... and yes I try not to be verbose. (I feel people come on my blog to read only so much...) I hope my notes make sense to others. More later!

Karen Lewis said...

What great bits of wisdom!

I'm really enjoying your Florida paintings. They are so atmospheric and mysterious.

loriann signori said...

Hi Karen L,
Thank you, I am glad that you are finding the wisdom helpful. Sadie is an excellent teacher.I will be posting more when I have had time to process.
Thank you also about my Florida paintings!