I'm learning -- or trying to learn -- how to paint trees. I don't know why it's so hard for me given how much I love trees and I've seen them all my life. Oh I know, whole books are given to the art of depicting trees but still, I thought it would be easier. One more thing on my growing list of things I want to learn how to draw......
When I was a young woman in my 20s I used to sit on a park bench with the other mommies while we watched our kids play. Occasionally one of us would get up and push all the swings for a few minutes and then the kids would scamper to the slide again or sit with their buckets and shovels and scoop up the sand. Apparently I remembered to bring my camera at least a few times because I have the photos to prove it.
Now I'm a much older woman in my 60s and it appears that life has not changed all that much. Now I sit in a molded plastic chair with all the other dog owners and we watch our pups at play in the dog park. Occasionally one of us gets up to separate two or three who get into it a little too wildly or maybe to shoo off someone who's mounting someone else. And then we continue the conversation. Apparently I remembered to bring my sketchbook at least a few times because I have the drawings to prove it.
I was sitting in chemotherapy today, feeling well but with little to do, and copied this photo of a Pacific chorus frog from the May-June issue of Audubon Magazine. (I travel with a Moleskin watercolor sketchbook, watercolor pencils, a couple graphite pencils and Micron pens.) This frog, I learned, is the most prevalent here in the western United States although I don't recall ever actually seeing one. One thing I've noticed about my new sketching habit -- unlike those who go through life with photogenic memories -- if I haven't drawn something I haven't really seen it. Puts all my life experience in a different perspective, as in, what have I been missing....everything???
Finally, after ten days of commuting to various activities, appointments and events, I have a free day. I need to catch up with everything - cleaning, organizing, reading, cooking, you name it, all the activities of everyday life.
This morning, after getting a much needed hair trim, I parked myself and Beulie in the closest Starbucks for 90 minutes of down time and drawing. There wasn't much in there to sketch! I could have moved and found a better angle. I could also learn how to draw faces because lots of faces went in and out during that time. But I did neither, just sat and drew with my Micron pen and watercolor pencils. I drew the building next door, one of the blue ceiling lamps, two chairs and Beulie's back legs.
Although I was disappointed in the results, I was thrilled to be there and to be drawing something, anything, after a rather unproductive week. I don't want to let time escape from me like that any more. What I realized is that this new habit I've created, daily drawing, is important to me and a missed day feels like a day unlived.
I was in a dreary mood at one point this afternoon and drew rocks in the shape of a cairn. Cairns can be for almost anything.....what was mine about?
I like to add vinca to borders and containers. It's such an endearing little flower, the definition of simplicity and undemanding to boot. But drawing it was a lot harder than I anticipated. This was Moleskin with watercolor pencils, Micron pen and pencil.
I was winding down this evening and suddenly realized I hadn't done any drawing ALL day. That would be okay except that I've admitted that what I really want is to learn how to draw and that takes practice, practice, practice. And more practice. On a daily basis. So I sat down with a grid and drew several shoes from nearby photos and a catalog. And then I just couldn't bear to draw one more shoe -- so I ended up with an orange. These were made with a black Micron pen and Caran d'Ache watercolor pencils (which I really, really like) in my new Moleskin sketchbook. It's after midnight - already tomorrow - so can I go to sleep now?
All our flowers are grown in containers. The soil is too full of clay so container gardening is much easier. I wandered around the back yard and deck this afternoon drawing a few of the many blossoms that are flourishing in July. I covered a page in my new watercolor Moleskin sketchbook and drew with watercolor pencils, graphite and pen. (Click on the picture for more detail.)
Bert Dodson, in his new book, KEYS TO DRAWING WITH IMAGINATION, asks his readers in chapter one to doodle and noodle. The idea is that you "take a line for a walk" and be sure to begin and end at the same place. And then choose one pattern to fill in the empty spaces. The line walk is a right brain experience, just follow where the line wants to go. That's doodling. Choosing or designing a pattern and placing it deliberately in each space is a left brain activity. That's noodling. I repeated this exercise several times. Here's a sample:
When I went to facilitate the boys' Arts & Crafts group at Juvenile Hall this week I asked the boys to doodle, then noodle. I demonstrated the activity and then turned them loose to construct their own. I wish I had remembered to bring in my CD player so they had something to listen to while they worked, but I didn't and we chatted a bit instead. They were delighted to work with ballpoint pens, contraband I am allowed to bring into the facility. Sometimes staff allows the kids to sit with paper and 3 inch pencils, something they could doodle and noodle with, if they chose.
This afternoon I was wanting to break in my first Moleskin watercolor sketchbook. I've had it on the shelf for at least a month but there's such a mystique about Moleys, and I'd never drawn in one before, so I found it intimidating to begin lest I sully it in some way. So I decided to doodle and noodle on page one.
Having done that I'm hoping I can move on and FILL THAT BOOK, that's the goal. I like it that I'm taking my first Moleskin seriously, that I don't want to do slap-dash work in it. I have another sketchbook for those hurried pieces. I want to save the Moleskin for my very best -- and, as a beginner, my very best ain't great, but I'm hoping it will show a serious effort, a real attempt.....and steady improvement.
And then I found out that I'm 67% creative....whatever that means:
| You Are 67% Creative |
 You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word. You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times. |
