Speakers: Judy , UK
Judy : Hi, I'm Judy and I'm from Tunbridge Wells in the UK.
Can you show us some examples of the artwork you've done with Draw Awesome?
Judy : So here's one of the pieces from a fairly recent project, using pastels, which we used earlier in one of the projects. One of the fairly early ones and Phil's returned to it again and this is the Tiger. And I was... ...well, everyone in the family, in fact one of my sons said, he thought this was his favourite painting of mine I've produced so far.
Judy : But I think the main thing is that I really didn't like pastels when I first started. I didn't like the scratchiness and I think I didn't really understand how to truly use them. And my technique has improved quite a lot and therefore I enjoy it much more and I get a lot out of it. So, I'm really pleased about that and another one is... ...a fairly recent thing this. You know, the light isn't very good, but of the dog. Again, I really do enjoy doing... drawing with pencils, so that was great fun.
Judy : was trying to catch up. But again, family and friends have noticed such a difference. And, you know, I just really enjoyed it so much. Thank you Phil.
Before starting Draw Awesome, what was your level of art experience?
Judy : I've always been interested in art and been reasonably good at it. Certainly at school I was, but then didn't do any art for many, many years because children, family and work got in the way and I only really picked it back up again when I retired, which is probably about six years ago. I was lucky in that I found some local classes - - very local classes - by an excellent tutor who did botanical watercolours and coloured pencils, which I both enjoyed. But realised I wasn't developing maybe as much I would have wished to because I wasn't trying anything different. I was doing the same thing more or less over and over again. So finding Draw Awesome allowed me to challenge myself on doing things I would never have done before, like charcoal. Not that I can say I'm a lover of it now, but at least I've tried it and just experimenting a little bit more, being a bit looser.
In what ways do you think Draw Awesome has helped you?
Judy : I can truly say that Draw Awesome has been a wonderful experience. I thoroughly enjoy the weekly sessions and I suppose the whole beauty of it is that you can go at your own pace. So you can do it anytime you want. You can take it as slowly or fast as you want. And if you get a bit left... ...if you get behind, so illness or life takes over, it doesn't matter and you can just go as you wish. So that's a huge benefit. But I think the main thing Phil has been that it has challenged me in ways I certainly wouldn't have done before. I've used mediums that I certainly wouldn't do before, particularly charcoal. Which isn't something, to be honest, isn't something my most enthusiastic medium, but it taught me a lot and is really great from that point of view. I think also the main thing is that there's lots of different... the projects are all so different. So it's not like I was doing before just botanical. In fact, I haven't done any botanical in Draw Awesome, but it's totally different. You're doing portraits, you're doing some still life... You're doing people... you're doing ink, you're doing watercolour... coloured pencils... pencils - - it's been quite an experience. And I think I've learned a lot and certainly my family have noticed a change and they really like seeing my latest achievements... ...and it's been lovely. And a lot of my friends have commented on some of the artwork I'm producing. So it's hugely enjoyable!
So what do you like most about Draw Awesome and would you recommend it to others?
Judy : Well, I can easily say there's lots of things I like about Draw Awesome. It's something I really look forward to each week. I think the tuition - your tuition Phil - is really great. We can see everything you do. You've taught me different techniques that I didn't even know about before, like the enveloping method and various other things. And the tuition is very detailed because you can see everything you do - there's lots of things to say why I like it so much. The different projects, the different mediums which I would never use before... but the ability to do it under your own steam. So if life is busy one week, it doesn't matter. You can pick it up the following week or get through two projects in one week, it doesn't matter. You go on holiday, you can do it on holiday or you can do it some other time. And I've certainly taken my computer on holiday and done a bit of artwork on holiday as well. Yes, so it's a real challenge and I really enjoy it. I was talking to a friend I haven't seen for a long time the other week and talking about Draw Awesome and actually I gave her the details to suggest you give it a try and she sounded very interested. So hopefully she'll join as well, but it's really good. And finally the other thing I do like is to see other people's work. You can see how other people have developed and you get some very nice feedback. It's a very nice place to read comments. Nobody's unpleasant, everybody is very welcoming and very encouraging and that's a lovely, lovely thing to be. So thank you Phil.
