Greetings on this very cold (at least in Utah!) winter Friday! I hope you all had a very creative and lovely week. I'm looking forward to a weekend filled with some creative book reading under a warm blanket:) and probably cooking some good food.
I've spent a lot of time this week drawing. I was thinking about how in the two and a half years since I left art school, I've not kept up a disciplined drawing practice. I'm disappointed in myself for this. I put some serious time, effort, and money into taking those art classes and now I feel that I've been wasting it. Drawing is like any other skill in that if you don't practice, you lose it. Even though I do quick sketches for paintings or other art projects, it's not the same thing as doing a detailed, finished rendering. So I have started daily practice.
One of my favorite classes in school, and probably my favorite subject matter is figure drawing. So I was pleased to see that the January theme over at
Creative Every Day is "body", however we might interpret that. I am sticking with the human body and thought I'd start here with this crazy form.
Another thing I've been working on is learning to draw an ellipse, or rather, a circle in perspective. I have always struggled with this, so decided that this year, come hell or high water, I'm learning to draw an ellipse. DH gave me this nice Moleskin sketchbook for Yule; I'm dedicating it to my study of the ellipse, with the goal of drawing an ellipse everyday for 365 days! If I miss a day, then I have to make it up by taking an ellipse penance. I make myself draw multitudes of ellipses. They don't all go in the book though. I'm starting to learn to see them better. That sounds weird I know, but when you really start to study them, you do start to see differently.
And on the subject of learning to see....I went and picked up my old lady bifocals today. I'm trying to get used to them and it's quite difficult. I take them on and off, on and off. I'm going to make myself one of those kitschy beaded chains to hold the glasses around my neck. Granny chic, right?
Good for you for practicing!
ReplyDeleteI've made tons of those those beaded chains- I always laugh, because people I give them to (MIL, friends, mom) LOVE them. Use them almost constantly, every day. But they never sell in my shop! I think people are afraid to buy them :) Make one, you'll love it! :)
This is soooo cool! I am going to take a drawing class this Winter, a personalized version of the College class he teaches. I am so excited about it. My drawing skills are about what they were in the fifth grade.
ReplyDeleteYou inspire me... looking forward to knowing you through CED2010.
Myrnie! I see you even have a tutorial for the eyeglasses chain; I am all over that:)
ReplyDeleteJulie, I'm so glad to hear I inspire someone! Thanks:)
We have three of those fun wooden figures (from IKEA) and we bend them into fun and silly contortions just for decor. Maybe sometime soon I'll sit down and actually try a sketch.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your drawings.
And thanks for your recent comments over at sewandsowlife. I appreciate them.
Karen, my guy is from IKEA too; after I was done sketching I did decide to put him on the book shelf in a crazy pose:)
ReplyDeletelovely drawings!
ReplyDelete