US Trip 2024: Getting to know Madeline Island

Whenever instructors give a course on on-location drawing, we need to scrutinize the place, trying to find its best subjects, points of view, seating places, and shadow availability. That's why I arrived a couple of days before the course began, along with my fellow partners.

We were taken around the island, and I saw several interesting subjects, such as an appealing old willow tree. However, I thought it would be smarter to find a good spot on the Madeline School of the Arts premises, making it easier for the students, close to the classrooms and so on. Oliver and Nina found spots outside, which was part of the general plan, and it worked out very well too - the school took care of the transportation and lunch for everybody.

So, my very first pages filled out in the school were these ones.

I found this group of trees in between two small houses and the windmill. A compelling subject, with interesting things to be figured out and solved. I used my painterly approach with pencils. 

I recognized that scene could be challenging because there were too many objects to arrange. I instantly realized the windmill could be a very tricky subject in itself - a dark, rounded shape with fuzzy edges against the sky! Some things must be graphically assessed to be figured out, don't you think?

In the sketch on the bottom, I solved the problem by taking the windmill out of the equation, allowing more focus to be put on the trees themselves (the main topic of my workshop).

I tried a few other options, then I thoroughly read up on the subject. I discovered that would be a great subject for a composition workshop, but it might be too much for one focused on trees. I didn't finish these sketches to save time, but I added a few notes that could be interesting to share with the students.

I found a nice subject a 10-minute walk from the school buildings, still within view. It was a beautiful tree by a pond (featured above, on the right lower corner). Very painterly, but a little too wild. I couldn't handle the bugs, so I moved on.