Silly Spheres and Crazy Avians
Dear Sarah 031
January 31, 2025
Hi Nikki,
After yesterday's frustration, I'm having a cheat day. Well, not exactly a cheat day (I have sent a drawing), but a day to regroup before we start the next month of drawing. I found another sketchbook that I used to draw in and lo and behold! there were the sketches for the first few days of a 30-day drawing "course" I started years ago using a book called You Can Draw in Thirty Days. Huzzah! Today's drawing is an exercise in drawing overlapping spheres. Fun to do but also a great way to grasp things like light source, shadow and perspective.
I realized yesterday that, as I draw, I feel very much like a six-year-old tasked with writing a novel. I don't have the vocabulary or the understanding of all the nuances that are necessary to produce the effect I want. I'd like to be the experimental, pick-up-a-pencil-and-see-what-happens kind of artist, but that's just not me. At least not yet.
So for the next month or so, I think I'm going to go back to that book, and follow along. But this time, I'll do the exercise first and then apply what I've learned to a new drawing. It may take a bit longer than a month, but I think I'll come away with a bit more confidence (and less self-loathing).
This first month of daily drawing has been a 100 percent wonderful experience, getting me through a month of short days, overcast skies and headaches both physical and emotional. Sharing the experience with a friend has added a layer of meaning that has buoyed me up many times. Thanks, Nikki. Bring on February!!
January 31, 2025
Dear Sarah,
Yesterday, I was left with a wet sponge full of pale blueish watercolour leftovers. Rather than rinse it out, I blotted it over the next page in the sketchbook and left it to dry, which created not an bad background texture.
Today, I received your spheres and took up a tool I loathe - a soft, fat pencil. I tried to be loose and just draw some circly-spheres, but quickly remembered why I dislike soft pencils - smudging!! The heel of my hand was soon black and my spheres mostly didn’t look like spheres… but I kept my hand moving and from who knows where, that avian thing emerged, full of eggs (?) and sitting on a canoe-shaped nest. Sigh. This is what happens when there is no plan.
I admire your strategy of following a proposed path (as per your 30-day book) and applying the theory to actual subjects. At the moment, I’m feeling somewhat undisciplined, so the lead I am kind of following is yours :)
(What I do find interested in my effort today is the texture of the lines created by using a very soft pencil on very rough paper.)
On we go into February!!