choosesnottobegin with thumbnail
sketches.“I’ma lazy one,” Botman
sayslaughing.Instead she chooses to
emphasizetheimportance of picking
a subject.“When I draw a goose, I
wanttobea goose.” This can change
duringthecourse of a painting,
however.“IfI don’t feel like being
a goosetoday,maybe I want to be a
cow.”Eitherway, Botman ensures her
paintedanimals “move” around the
composition.
Sheoccasionally stands back to
lookatherwork. “It may look stiff,”
saystheartist.“I play with it. It’s
likea dance.I feel free to change the
colorsorchange the composition. I
startwithmyfeeling for a color. If
I feelangry,it might be red; if I feel
sad,it maybeblue.”
Sheinstructsher pupils to do like-
wise:“Startwith the color you want.
Takea secondcolor with it—maybe
notyourfavorite, maybe not even one
youlike.Chooseone you hate. Make
themhavea conversation with each
other.” Eachparticipant in the class
thendrawsthesame bird in a color
fieldoftheirchoosing with charcoal.
Botmanbegins with charcoal,
appreciatingitsflexibility, with
marksthatcanmore easily be
changedthanblack pastel. “Wipe it
outif youdon’tlike it,” she says. It’s
hermantra.Ifstudents struggle, she
paintsa demonstration, injecting
tipslikethisone: “It’s important not
toputintheeyes too early, because
thenit’stooeasy to lose the range of
valuesandthecomposition.”
Botmankeeps the contours loose
whendrawinganimals because they
maychange.“Feel the length of its
tail.Wherearehis eyes?” Then, she
startstofillinthe colors. Her color
advice?“Alwaysbe very playful.”Next Steps
Botmanhadbeen working on paper
20x25-inchesor smaller, but her
gallerieseventually began asking the
artistforlargerwork. She initiallyLEFT
Visiting the
Neighbours
(15 2/5 x15 2/5)
BOTTOM LEFT
Work Is Done
(471/3x59)as four and as large as 25, with the
smaller classes occurring weekly
and the larger ones up to four times
per year. “People in the Netherlands
take a lot of workshops,” she says.She travels to them by train with a
suitcase of pastels.
Her teaching method doesn’t vary
much from her normal working
process at home in her studio. She58 Pastel Journal JUNE 2019