Weekly Drawing Drop-Ins

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Drop-in Classes every Tuesday from 11:30am-1:00pm! Hosted by Cole Melvin, Weekly Drawing Drop-Ins are classes for anyone who is interested in enhancing their creative skills through drawing practice. Using pencil, colored pencils, or oil pastels, Cole will lead us through an exercise centering the current season or time of year. Expect park wanderings, still-life setups, or assorted props to study and observe. Experience live and pre-recorded demonstrations of drawing media, skills, and techniques. Or enjoy drawing from imagination and benefit from sharing ideas and inspiration with the others. Taking time to play, create, and practice enhances mental wellbeing, fosters creativity and imagination, and improves visual learning and fine motor skills. "Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do."  - Bob Ross Cole is an artist and educator who celebrates the wisdom and wonder of the natural world through contemporary nature illustration and fine arts instruction. Finding a love for nature and art was easy given the amount of time he spent immersed in wild spaces, seeking peace in nature exploration and creative expression. These continue to offer him a sense of security and inspiration—gifts that he yearns to share with others. He went on to study art and design education at Northern Illinois University, then relocated to Madison, Wisconsin where he started a career as an elementary art educator. He currently works as an independent artist and private art teacher in the Madison area. Today, Cole enjoys exploring the parks and trails of south-central Wisconsin with his loving wife and chosen family. He works as an educator for Lyon Road Art Academy in Waunakee and Slate Blue Studios at ART House 360 in Verona. With a naturalist’s curiosity and a storyteller’s heart, Cole invites audiences of all ages to see nature not just as a subject, but as a teacher with wisdom to share; to see art-making not just as a pastime, but as an exercise for wellbeing. Through his illustrations and instruction he hopes to give people the skills they need to make art, find joy, and discover their own style.