Planning your portfolio

When starting out to make your Art Portfolio, you might find that you don’t know where to start and what to do first. The best way to get around this “block” is to plan your Art Portfolio as a project.

Below is a way that I use to get around this artist block. This is also the first step in designing your project.

It is easy to let your thoughts go and make a mindmap.  As you go along the process you will find amazing ideas/images appear in your mind that you can translate into artwork.

Try this and let me know if it works for you.




This is my mindmap that I created when I wanted to do landscape themed artwork.

 Read more about this method in my e-book about Creating a Winning Art Portfolio that will be available for download later this year.

Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.









Creating a Winning Art Portfolio (e-book)

Hello everyone, my name is Sane-Mari Botha and I am the founder of THE ART WORKSHOP.  I have started on the journey of writing an e-book about Creating a Winning Art Portfolio. I am enjoying the process and have a lot to share with you. At this stage I have decided to do all the writing first and then start with the art work that will serve as examples and instructions. Being an artist, I can't wait to start creating. Below you can read an extract from the first page. 

" I am a graduate of The Learning Connexion, New Zealand’s biggest Art School, where I obtained a Diploma in Art & Creativity (Honours) in 2011.

I have participated in various group exhibitions in Tauranga, Wellington and Auckland. I have had two solo exhibitions, most recent at The Depot in Devonport.  I have delivered Art Workshops to groups of children to explore some of “The Masters” as well as private art lessons to develop creativity.

I believe that inherently everyone is creative. This creativity is unfortunately taken away from us by the development of inhibitions at around 8 years old and when we start to question whether our art is “good” enough. I have a passion for rekindling this creativity in children and adults alike, as I am fortunate enough to have rediscovered my creativity. I love sharing this amazing experience through workshops, art classes and my blog.

When creating my own work, (mostly painting), I take inspiration and ideas from naturally occurring shapes and phenomena in nature. I believe there is more to everything than just the exterior and that compels me to move away from painting popular or regular subjects, but rather my interpretation of  line, colour, texture, space and form.

When I  enrolled at The Learning Connexion (TLC) I had to supply a portfolio to accompany my application. At that stage I had a collection of work to present, but I had to really think and work hard to put this all together into a portfolio that made sense and that would be good enough to get accepted for the course.  

My aim with this e-book is to show that it is easy to create a fantastic winning art portfolio if you are willing to think creatively and work hard. The e-book series will give you guidelines, information and examples, whether you want to make a portfolio for application at an art school or just as a personal record of your art. 

All artwork used in this e-book have been created whilst writing and will be published as my personal art portfolio."

 

“Being an artist is a way of being. It’s not just what you produce”

FRIEDENSREICH  HUNDERTWASSER

How to make an Art Portfolio

 

How to make an Art Portfolio

e-book series

 

I am taking time out in 2013 to write a series of e-books, starting with, "How to make an Art Portfolio".

My aim is to show that it is easy to create a fantastic portfolio if you are willing to think creatively and work hard. The e-book series will give you guidelines, information and examples, whether you want to make a portfolio for application at an art school or just as a personal record of your art.

I will be blogging about the progress, so keep an eye out for new posts. 

As a result of this new venture, there will be no art classes until further notice.

 “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
― Edgar Degas

Turpan Pendi - the lowest place on earth. Acrylic on canvas - from a satellite image by Sane-Mari 2011.

 

Drawing Lessons

Drawings lessons

 for children

7 - 12 years

  Drawings lessons will resume on 17 November 2012.

The next lesson will be on 17 November from 14h00 to 16h00,

at the St Heliers Community Centre, St Heliers Bay Road, Auckland.

E-mail me at info@theartworkshop.co.nz  to make a booking.
The morning lesson, in Bucklands Beach, Auckland  will resume next year with the start of school term 1. More details to follow.

Remember the FIRST lesson is FREE! Give it a go!

Drawing Victorian Houses

Drawing Victorian Houses

This lesson proved to be great fun for all the students (aged 7 -11) attending the class. We learned that Architecture is the designing and building of structures. We discussed Victorian Architecture in brief,e.g where did the name come from. Some students knew the answer - England's Queen Victoria off course. We learned that Victorian Mansions were different from other houses because they were impressive and symbolized hospitality. They had unique features and distinctive color schemes. We looked at several pictures of Victorian Houses (from library books and the internet).

On the black display board wall I built (as a basic construction) a Victorian House from basic shapes cutouts. This served as an example to remind the students that essentially you can construct a Victorian house using squares, rectangles, half circles columns and triangles.

I gave the students free choice to use stencils, cut out shapes and rulers to construct their Victorian House. After "Building" the houses they used colored pencils or markers to decorate their houses.  Below are photos of some of the students work.

 I got the idea for this lesson from the Deep Space Sparkle blog.

Drawing with Basic Shapes

Silhouette drawn with fine pens on a watercolour background.

Often, at first glance, things will appear to be complicated and most beginning artists will not attempt to make a drawing of what they see.

If you start looking closely you will notice that almost everything is made up of basic shapes, such as circles, dots and lines. 

Drawing becomes much easier if you are able to recognise the shapes in simple as well as complex pictures.

The secret is to build onto the basic shapes in a step by step process.

Why is it easier to draw something when you first draw the shapes?

Because we can all draw basic shapes. See below for examples.

There are many more shapes in geometry as well as nature. Take an old magazine, choose a picture and see how many shapes you can identify. Deconstruct every picture and you will notice how easy it will be to draw that picture. Be aware that the basic shapes might be hidden. Also remember that you might need to change the basic shape slightly to draw the hidden shape, e.g a lopsided oval or triangle.

Be creative and explore basic shapes!

Draw like a child

 

 
 Follow this link  and see some of the work one of my students have done since May 2012.
 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alexanders-Artwork/202912303130464?ref=hl

He would love to hear what you think of his work.  He is 10 years old.

Freehand abstract design using basic shapes