Squiggles, snuggles, and utter chaos
Dear Sarah: Day 161 of our daily drawing exchange
June 10, 2025
Hi Nikki,
Back to work today--not too much time to draw. Today we were instructed to take all the shapes we have learned to draw and fit them in between random lines, so that when we come to drawing actual objects, we'll remember all the ways to fill a space. I enjoyed doing it, but the result is very busy.
Yesterday I walked near the Gorge Narrows and over to the part of the Gorge Park that has the Japanese pavilion. Near the pavilion was a lovely sculpture called Paired Geese. I took some photos and tried to draw the deceptively simple form. Didn't get very far, but will revisit, so I'm including what I've done so far.
It was soothing to draw after all the black squiggles.
XO S
Hi Sarah!
What you are about to witness is the equivalent of me with a new pack of crayons (or pens) trying out all the colours to see what they look like. Except on the iPad where there are an infinite number of tools, layers, textures, gizmos, doodads, and whosamawhatsits I don’t understand or know how to use. Apparently, lurking in the background, is also a recording of the whole, messy process. The end result (such as it is), is below the process video.
What did I learn from all that? I have no idea, really - except maybe that there is so much potential here for collage on a whole other level. And, that it’s fun. Also, it’s kind of reassuring that if I remember to put all the elements on different layers (sometimes I forget or start drawing or adding texture onto the wrong layer) I can undo whatever I don’t like (or pluck it out and use it elsewhere), which is perhaps the biggest difference from making a mess on a piece of paper with actual glue, paint, etc. Also, it’s easy to manipulate any inserted element - hue, contrast, texture, transparency can all be adjusted until one finds a pleasing combination of all the things… While this is a dog’s breakfast, I can see how it would be cool to have a map layer, faint in the background, and then add photos and scans and drawing/painting over the top, obscuring certain elements and enhancing others.
It takes drawing a moustache on a magazine photo up a notch.
Until tomorrow -
Nikki