I can't draw...

I CAN’T DRAW...WAYS OF LOOKINGART FOR BEGINNERS #01H A N N A H TO F T S

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I CAN’T DRAW...

WAYS OF LOOKINGart for beginners #01

10 weeks x 2 hours on a

tuesday in a village hall...

first steps in having fun

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For adults of all ages who are scared

but dare to try, for those who want to

see if they can, for those who want to

have some fun...

Explore your own creativity... follow

what we did and be inspired...experiment with colour, making marks,

learn to look, not think, play with

paint, let your expectations go, be

bold, dare to lose your fears, have fun!

There is no right, there is no wrong.

There are no rules...

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Everyone was shy and nervous:

“I was told I wasn’t any good at Art

at school.”

“I can’t do it right.”

“Everyone’s better than me.”

“I was never allowed to paint at home,

it was too messy.”

“I’m so slow, I can’t keep up with the

others, I feel like giving up.”

“I’ve never used so much paint

before, are you sure it’s ok?”

“I liked Art... but was told I should

do Latin instead.”

“I’m worried I’ll make a mistake...”

“This is like being a child again...”

“I don’t dare tell my husband I’m

doing this Art class, he’ll think it’s

a waste of time.”

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“I’ve never ever painted, even as a

child...”

“I never thought I could.”

“I just don’t have the confidence.”

“I’ve never drawn on a wall, never on

a window!”

“We were never encouraged to do Art at

school...”

“It’s terrible, I’m going to tear it

up...”

“You mean... those drips and splashes

can stay, but they’re just messy.”

“I’m so embarrassed...”

“I just can’t make it look right.”

“Can’t I rub it out and start again?”

“What? No rubbers???”

“I can’t draw!”

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This is what we did:

For who, where and how? 8

Week 01 - making colours 21

Week 02 - clashing colours 57

Week 03 - drawing with paper 93

Week 04 - making marks 117

Week 05 - looking at line 149

Week 06 - monoprinting 179

Week 07 - light and shadow 209

Week 08 - composition 239

Week 09 - painting with acrylics 257

Week 10 - painting experience 281

Inspired to do more? 323

Time for an exhibition! 324

Who’s Hannah? 344

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In the middle of nowhere...

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Where?

I ran the first Art Classes for Beginners in our village hall with a boiler room

for an Art cupboard, on the west coast of Scotland. In a very small village by

the sea in the middle of nowhere particular. You don’t have to live near the

facilities of a city or an Art College studio to want to learn to look and draw, but

you do have to be resourceful when gathering materials, coping with the

challenging weather, changing light and unusual locations.

However, the Beginners started in a wind free room in a modest hall with no

atmosphere to inspire, but there was warmth and hot water for coffee with the

treats of home-baking. I had big dreams of running the classes from my

studio, packed with curious things, books and artworks to stimulate and set

the scene... but I didn’t have that studio. I too was starting with nothing, so I

dropped my own expectations and dared to start wherever, with whatever I

could find. The rural subject matter depends utterly on the season and if it’s

been decimated by the weather. It is unreliable, often alive and confronting by

not always being there, but mostly offers a totally new and memorable

experience to draw from. We never drew dead cockerels freshly wrung that

morning at Art College, nor lobsters which were meant to be dead. But that

comes later in the following Art for Beginners Series all on location; on your

kitchen table, in someone elses’ house, along the roadside, in a field, on a

hilltop, in a crowded barn, under a bridge, on the shore...

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Who?

I wrote ‘Ways of Looking’ as a basic Art foundation course specifically for the

adults in our village of all ages, from 40-95, though the energy needed proved

sometimes too demanding for the older legs. Not for Art Students or Art

Professionals, but for Ordinary Adults who were interested in doing something

in Art but were shy and lacking in confidence. I wrote it for those who had

never drawn before, had painted a long time ago at school, for those who had

been told they couldn’t draw, or shouldn’t do Art, for those who wanted to get

bolder and looser, for those who wanted to see if they could. For all those

many adults who were really scared, but dared to try. This was no watercolour

course in the countryside... but offered instead a series of visual building

blocks to drawing and painting using a variety of materials and formats, and

above all, exploring ways of looking. I simply wanted to inspire, to show that

everyone can draw and have fun too. That there was no right or wrong way of

doing. I wanted to stimulate the senses, to give a positive experience, to show

the adults they all had their own visual language; they just had to see it and

believe in themselves. No-one was allowed to take their work home after a

class, thinking ‘it would all be thrown away’ which helped everyone to let go,

not judge and be free from expectation. It also helped their homelife too, for

out of context, we are easily crushed by others’ comments. This course and my

approach was more about the process, not the results. Most of the students

thought their work was terrible until they saw it at the end of the course in the

final review. By the end of 10 weeks, of only 2 (full) hours a week plus

homework, they finally saw what incredible progress and astonishing results

they had actually achieved. They were proud, now confident, with some basic

first steps under their belts and full of enthusiasm to do more!

0 1WEEK

making colours

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I asked everyone to bring in at least10 clean jam jars with lids but nolabels, a pile of newspapers and rags.Everyone was nervous. But there was nodrawing, no pencils and white paper tointimidate, simply tables covered innewspaper, brushes, water pots andbottles of cheap poster paint. Thefirst step: making colour fun. Can youmix that Greek Sea Blue, Rowan BerryRed, Sage Green, that Slate Sky Greyyou see outside? Experiment withmixing colours; using poster paintsand water, in jam jars, on purpose andby default. Always start with thelightest colour first when mixing andadd a tiny squeeze of the darkercolour bit by bit, try the 2 differentblues to mix with white, or mix withthe 2 different yellows to makehundreds of greens, then mix whitewith a blue and a yellow... smudge thecolour with your finger as a test onthe newspaper first. Dare to mix a lotof paint in your jars, half full atleast. Enjoy mixing lovely thickpaint, nothing too watery or hesitant,

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be bold! See what happens. Are theybright, chalky, gloomy, stormy, warm,zesty, happy? What does that colourremind you of, what does it make youfeel? Describe it through names of thenatural world. Label that jam jar andadd the colours to the colour chartson the wall. Now you’ve had a go,divide yourselves into mixing teams ofreds and pinks, greens, oranges andbrowns, purples, blues and greys. Mixas many jars of different colours asyou can for our store. New ways tolook at the colours around you in yourworld? Have fun, be inspired playingwith colour.

Homework: Collecting colours. Bring in3d objects of whatever colours youfind at home or outside for theCollecting Colour Charts, also collectmagazine cuttings for colours in imageor text to tear out and stick.

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The mixing got easier as you thought of the greens in your world.... I’m always

inspired by the vegetables I’m learning to grow and foods I love to eat.

You could almost eat some of the colours they looked so good...

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Redcurrant jelly redTomato chutney greenMarrow chutney yellowLemon marmalade orangeNasturtium seed greenQuince cheese pinkRowan berry jelly redCrab apple jelly pinkQuince jelly pinkMarrow and ginger jam orange

You could almost eat some of the colours they looked so good...

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� �

� � �

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The floor was totally covered in prints... you just wouldn’t stop!

In the middle of nowhere...Advanced Beginners out on location 2011

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344

Who’s Hannah?

I hadn’t anticipated at all how scared most adults are, how many fears we

carry, just how little confidence we have in ourselves, how this can totally stop

us from doing something we might actually like. This was a surprising and

moving journey for me too. I had to be strongly encouraged to run such an Art

class for the adults in our village, it took some persuading; I didn’t think I could

do it, didn’t think I was able without my studio set up in the European city I

came from, with no studio, no money, no commercial back up, no urban imput,

with no specialist techniques to my name, apart from being a Creative

Creature. I’ve taught every other level of student and child, but not mature

adults who weren’t professionally committed or those who expected to do

watercolour. I don’t do watercolour. But I do motivate and inspire ways of

looking, I’m passionate about colour, about the tactile and texture, about

painting and making, about collecting curious things, about the ordinary and

odd, the light I see every day wherever I am, the countries I travel, the

vegetables I’m learning to grow, the baking and cooking I love to eat, share and

present, the theatre and performance of setting the scene, and teaching... but

that’s not so easy to put across concisely in a flyer.

You can see more of Hannah’s approach on her website www.hannahtofts.com

and wait for further books full of looking and inspiration in the LOOKBOOK

series Art for Beginners. Designer/Illustrator/Artist/Teacher MA RCA

Let the child inside you play

“We really look forward to Tuesdays!”

Devised and taught by Hannah Tofts

Designer/Illustrator/Artist/Teacher

Further looking and inspiration in the series:

#01 WAYS OF LOOKING

#02 LOOKING AT LINE

#03 LOOKING AT COLOUR (summer)

#04 LOOKING AT COMPOSITION (autumn)

#05 LOOKING AT CONTRASTS (winter)

#06 LOOKING AT LIGHT (spring)

Written and photographed by Hannah Tofts Scotland

www.hannahtofts.com

Designed by Jan Battem Creative Direction Amsterdam

Additional photographs by Shannon, Murray and Faith

First published at createspace.com

Copyright © 2011 Hannah Tofts LOOKBOOK

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“I just love rhubarb.”

WAYS OF LOOKINGART FOR BEGINNERS #01

Follow Hannah's joyous and uniqueapproach to inspiring creativity inothers. A rich and stimulatingvisual journey for adults of all agesinterested in doing something inArt. For those of you who havenever drawn before, painted a longtime ago at school, were told theycouldn’t draw or shouldn’t do Art.For all the many adults who arereally scared, but dare to try, forthose who want to have some fun!

Explore your own creativity... followwhat we did and be inspired...Experiment with colour, makingmarks, learn to look, play withpaint, let your expectations go, bebold, dare to lose your fears, havefun! There is no right, there is nowrong. There are no rules...

“You could not guess

a single person could

generate so much

vitality, bright

positive colour and

celebration of

creativity.”

“I keep seeing

everything around me

with new eyes!”

“I learned it was

alright to have fun!”

I can't draw...

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