Books as gifts

treasured for a lifetime

Dad and I shared a love of books. When he passed away his studio shelves were full of lovely art books (some of which now reside with me). Collecting books about art started waaaaaay back when Dad was just a boy.

He received a copy of How to Draw Locomotives from his aunt and cousin for his 7th birthday. He was fond enough of this particular book he added his name (in lovely script) in 1952 when he was at the Sunderland College of Art.

His interest in drawing must have been obvious to family members as in the same year (1942) he also received a copy of How to Draw Planes from a cousin at Christmas. I can just imagine him as a little boy practicing away, drawing his favourite subjects - trains and planes (other subjects he loved to draw early on included plants, ships, the sea, and landscapes).

The books are more directions to ‘look carefully’ and ‘keep practicing’ than they are detailed how-to manuals. I can only imagine how much Dad would have LOVED some of the books (and other resources) we have available today.

I felt I owed it to him (and the old books) to do a quick try of facial features (from How To Draw Portraits).

More time and much more repetition clearly required. Noses are hard! Not that any of the facial features are easy, but wow - those are weird, blobby appendages that precede us wherever we go :)