Drawings almost every day by Romney David Smith and Tarragon Smith. Occasionally paintings or etchings or silkscreens. Or whatever else catches our fancy.
1. Be prepared. Always have something with you to draw with, even if it's a used envelope and a ballpoint pen. It doesn't need to be fancy, archival, hand-bound, special. In fact, sometimes that puts people off, and they're reluctant to use the good stuff!
2. If you don't have anything to draw with, look around. I've used a broken stick I've picked up off the ground, a wash of mud or berries, and a pen I cut from a goose's feather.
3. Remember, they're making more paper, even as we speak. It's OK to use it up, mess it up, and play with it.
4. Go into it with an attitude of fun, not competition or needing to show your work. Explore, play!
5. Try kids' paints for a change, or a set of crayons, use sidewalk chalk, and yes use it on the sidewalk.
6. Work small. Make a lot of quick sketches and drawings on a page. If you don't like one, paste a piece of paper over it and add on top of that.
7. Draw guidelines for yourself, if you want. There are no rules!
8. Work big, with big sweeping strokes. Don't worry about the detail, just get the shape, the motion.
Drawing is the only thing I've found in which I can lose myself completely. I love it. It started as something that relaxed me, but now it's a struggle because I'm pushing myself. The day-to-day sketching is fraught.
We draw the human figure because it is a subject we can all relate to and engage with, it's a pleasing subject which serves as an outlet for our creativity and self-expression. HB
8 tips from Cathy.
ReplyDelete1. Be prepared. Always have something with you to draw with, even if it's a used envelope and a ballpoint pen. It doesn't need to be fancy, archival, hand-bound, special. In fact, sometimes that puts people off, and they're reluctant to use the good stuff!
2. If you don't have anything to draw with, look around. I've used a broken stick I've picked up off the ground, a wash of mud or berries, and a pen I cut from a goose's feather.
3. Remember, they're making more paper, even as we speak. It's OK to use it up, mess it up, and play with it.
4. Go into it with an attitude of fun, not competition or needing to show your work. Explore, play!
5. Try kids' paints for a change, or a set of crayons, use sidewalk chalk, and yes use it on the sidewalk.
6. Work small. Make a lot of quick sketches and drawings on a page. If you don't like one, paste a piece of paper over it and add on top of that.
7. Draw guidelines for yourself, if you want. There are no rules!
8. Work big, with big sweeping strokes. Don't worry about the detail, just get the shape, the motion.
Cathy Johnson
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
ReplyDelete-MG-
Drawing is the only thing I've found in which I can lose myself completely. I love it. It started as something that relaxed me, but now it's a struggle because I'm pushing myself. The day-to-day sketching is fraught.
ReplyDeletePeter C.
Stay on the high road and not get distracted by criticism or gossip, the dogs bark but the wagon moves on.
ReplyDeleteJB
We draw the human figure because it is a subject we can all relate to and engage with, it's a pleasing subject which serves as an outlet for our creativity and self-expression.
ReplyDeleteHB