On 26th and 27th of May, the third level of the training took place in Liège, in the office of the "Orchidee Rose", one of the organizations from the neighboarhood with which we are working. On Saturday afternoon the practical session was held at the Musée de vie et art wallon, à Liège.
This level aimed at transmitting the necessary skills for drawing the human face from different points of view .
The expression of the face was one very important aspect of this training.
Since I was a very little child, I saw most of my friends drawing and I wanted to do the same. I always failed in my drawings but I saw progress. The first time I heard about the possibility of making tactile drawings it seemed impossible to me. Now after three levels I feel much more confident in drawing. But also, it helped me see more and much better...
During these two days, we have learned to draw a face while taking into the proportions of space on the paper. This seemed impossible at first but I am very happy to tell you that now I can use much better the drawing space.
Another aspect was the facial expressions. When I was a child, I would be told to smile and I didn't know how to do that. What did it mean ? To smile, that meant to me to feel happynes in my heart but I had no idea what to do with my face to show that. Later I understood, but it was very difficult.
Then I was always wondering how people know that I was sad, or happy. They told me that it was written on my face. How comes ? I can't see it! Or I can't feel it! I was never able to understand how our face changes when we are frightened, sad, angry or happy. I always had in my mind what I felt inside me. All the rest was so abstract for me.
Here at the course I was able to understand that our yes are different, and our lips and other areas of our face, just because to tension or the relaxation of our muscles change the position of those areas on our face. I had read about the different states of the human face in the long characters' descriptions in the novels by Balzac or other writers; theoretically everything was clear ! But to me, it was like some empty pots with a label on them; and now, I have been able to fill those pots in !
It is so wonderful now to know how is the face of a person who is sad, and to know what it means to be smiling, and how beautiful is that face.
Loredana Dicsi