Sketching Animal Tracks and the Landscape

Instruction Medium: Graphite and/or Charcoal

This one day workshop is about Deep Observation and Nature Connection.

In this workshop students will learn how to observe & identify animal tracks of the Pacific Northwest and draw them in the landscape.

Students will spend a day in a wild location within an hours drive from Seattle and learn practical tracking and nature connection through deep observation.

Many of the principles involved tracking and drawing involve slowing down and entering into a mind-state of keen observation. Visual artists and trackers thus share a lot in common as they interact with the natural world.

Atelier instructor Mark Kang-O'Higgins will demonstrate how to use principles of observational drawing to understand tracking principles, foot morphology, and landscape sketching.

In this way students can harness their powers of observation to understand and connect with the natural world.

Topics may include:

• Observational Drawing & Proportional Measurement
• Foot morphology & Comparative Anatomy
• Moving from Primary to secondary to Complex Shape Observation
• The relationship between Tracking and Drawing
• Atmospheric Perspective and Foreground, Midground & Background
• The Block-In/Shadow Mapping
• Shadow Globe sensibility