Online Class: Color Drawings on Dark Toned Paper—Pinecones & More 

Taking inspiration from Georgia O’Keeffe’s art and her collection of natural objects, join us for an observational drawing session using toned or dark-colored paper to capture eye-catching contrast and dimension.

Through interactive demonstrations, teaching artist Sudeshna Sengupta will guide you through capturing the form, tonal range, and textural character of pinecones and more using charcoal and conte’ on dark-colored backgrounds. Aside from pinecones, participants are welcome to choose other seasonal items from nature to draw during class such as seed pods, antlers, feathers, pebbles, or dried leaves to create close-up contour drawings. 

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This class is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. Children are welcome to participate alongside their adults.

Space is limited, reservations required.

This program will take place via the video conferencing app – ZOOM. Details for accessing the Zoom meeting will be with your receipt upon registering and again sent via email the day prior. Please register in advance in order to access the program.

Note that all program times are in Mountain Time.

Supplies needed for this class: 

• Canson Mi Tientes Earth Colors or Black or Gray Tones Pastel Paper pad in 9” x 12” to 12” X 16” size or similar paper pad. Thicker paper (140 lb or higher) is better.
• A 2B graphite pencil and an eraser
• Charcoal (black) pencils in Medium (2B) and Soft/Dark (4B or 6B)
• Recommended: A white and or gray charcoal pencil or white Conté pencil
• Set of white, black, sanguine, and terracotta Conté. Optional: Color Conté pencils
• 3 to 5 Blending stumps (AKA Tortillons, often comes with drawing pencil sets) and or Qtips.
• Recommended: Masking tape or clips to keep the paper flat especially is the pad is larger.
• Optional: Color pencils or pastel-pencils. soft cotton rags for blending larger areas (cut up pieces of old cotton t-shirt works well)
• Ordinary Sketchpad or Newsprint pad for warm-up sketches and practice drawing 9” x 12” or larger.

About the Instructor:

Sudeshna Sengupta’s career as a teaching artist spans multiple decades, continents, and cultures that inform her pedagogy for decolonizing studio art. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1985 from Visva-Bharati University, founded by the first non-European Nobel Laureate (1913) and humanist poet Rabindranath Tagore.

After teaching art and design at the college level in New Delhi, Seattle, and California, she taught at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo, where she established its first intaglio printmaking studio in 1995. Besides the O’Keeffe Museum, Sengupta teaches credit courses with the School of Art & Design of the Santa Fe Community College.

Her etchings and lithographs from the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi have been featured in a landmark exhibition on Women Printmakers of India at the NGMA-New Delhi in India. Her work is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Association Musée d’Art Contemporain, France; Kala Institute, Berkeley, and more.

Sengupta also conducts workshops, short courses, lectures, and community-based art events focusing on multicultural and intercultural experiences that emphasize human, cultural, and environmental connectedness through creativity.

To learn more, please visit notes-and-doodles.com and visit her Instagram @santafe_online_art_studio

This class is being offered on a sliding scale.

$10 minimal fee.

$20 covers the cost of the class.

$30 covers the cost of the class, plus a contribution to support educational programs.

Photograph by Sudeshna Sengupta