Dear Sarah 018

Hot air, out of control brush pens, and bottles (and Oscar Wilde)

Dear Sarah - January 18, 2025

What can I say... it's colourful? I really love (well, want to love) my brush pens, but clearly do not have them under control.

I am also taking note of a recent Wendy Mac prompt to fill in the backgrounds...

To that end, I retrofitted the glass ball antelope drawing from the other day with this yellow background (also brush pens).

For reference, here's the original:

I think I prefer the original, to be honest - but, too late now! There is no 'undo' feature with pen and paper!

Love the art supplies drawing from yesterday - fresh pens, pencils, etc. get me as excited today as did laying out my school supplies when I was heading off to Grade Two. Very impressed with your bowls and cylinders; they look like bowls and cylinders - satisfying, no?

Dear Nikki - January 18, 2025

Loving the colour in your drawings--and I agree, bubble horse #1 is my fave too. My drawings of bottles feel very drab compared to your bursts of colour, but, as my mom used to say, "Comparisons are odious." She was apparently quoting Oscar Wilde, who is supposed to have added "and literary comparisons are most odious of all." True that, Oscar (and Mom).

It's really hard not to go down that road, but there lurk the dragons of envy, discouragement, self-loathing. Trying to avoid all that! I think it's safe to say that what we are doing is exploring our own relationship to drawing, whatever tools we use, and encouraging each other to do whatever the hell we want on any given day.

I'm working again today with cylinders, ellipses, plumb lines, and underdrawing. Breaking down an object into its component shapes before I put pencil to paper really helps slow me down. But who knows? Tomorrow I may bust out the watercolour pencils!

(Just joining us? These letters chronicle our full year of daily drawings and accompanying correspondence/conversation. Learn more about Sarah Harvey here. More info about me can be found here.)