Hi Nikki,
May 30, 2025
My drawing class today was an exercise in connecting dots, which was actually really instructive. Start with 10 or so randomly spaced dots on the page and then connect the dots in as many ways as you can figure out. The trick is to concentrate on the dot you are trying to connect with, not the tip of your pen. The lines don't wander as much when you do that. I like the cats' cradle effect too.
I was reading National Geographic today and came across an article about a Russian lepidopterist named Rustam Effendi. In the article was a two page photo spread of an old railway bridge--the Khudafarin Bridge between Armenia and Azerbaijan. I'm attaching a photo of the bridge (not the beautiful Nat Geo photo, unfortunately) to give you an idea of what I was trying to sketch. Now I'm going to start obsessing about bridges. I cross a bridge nearly every day--maybe I should try and draw those ones!!


Hope you have had a good day. I drove up to MIll Bay to meet a friend for lunch. It blew my mind that the highway over the Malahat was awash with bright yellow on both sides of the road--Scotch broom gone rampant. It went on for miles and miles. Talk about an invasive species.
XO S
Hello Sarah!
Well, I’m glad I didn’t see your bridge (which is legit bridgey) and kind of sad I didn’t see your join the dots exercise before I came up with this:
I popped into the Thrift Store today on my way somewhere else and found a whole bunch of these very cool artsy pens - the kind you have to shake before you use. I wanted to test them to see if they worked and sort of doodled bridge-inspired shapes, trying each pen in turn.
The dots and lines would have been a much better project for pen testing. And, because I was doodling and not looking at any kind of reference I quickly realized I have no idea what a bridge really looks like.
Tomorrow, prepare yourself, there will be more bridge drawing.
Cheers,
Nikki