Word Weaver Art: drawing

Showing posts with label drawing. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Drawing Landscapes

I signed up for a 6-week drawing class through OLLI, the senior branch of the University of Arkansas.

For me, I'd compare drawing to broccoli...

I don't like it.
I try to avoid it.
I know it's good for me.
Other people love it.
I can do it (eat it) if I have to.

So... why did I take the class? Good question.

It's hard; I'd like it to get easier.
It's tedious; I'd like it to become a pleasure.
I know it takes practice; I'm a good student, so if there's homework, I know I'll do it whereas I wouldn't on my own.
I like to be a life-long learner; since I've taught several painting classes through OLLI, I had the credits to take this one for free.

Week One Homework: I drew a landscape each day. I looked for photos I'd taken from places I'd been.

Beach in Indonesia

California Coastline

Farm where I grew up near Mena, Arkansas

Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Smoky Mountains in Tennessee

Snowy view from a friend's house

Janis Joplin Tree, San Francisco

Sunday, November 27, 2022

I "met" Benjamin when we were assigned to be partners in a postcard art exchange a few months ago. He's an artist in The Netherlands. I sent him a little painting and postcard. He sent me a little painting and postcard.

He offered a free on-line Pen & Ink Autumn Drawing Challenge, so I took it.

I have never been a doodler or have never enjoyed sketching or thought of myself as a drawer... But... it seems that learning drawing skills is good for me... kind of like eating vegetables. Enjoy it if you can, but if you can't, do it anyway.

This was my first venture into pen and ink.

Ben was a good teacher, and I enjoyed learning through his lessons.

Mushrooms!

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Forty by February (Drawings 30-40)

Buff says, "You are my second favorite drawer.

If I can't sit on top of what you're working on,

I'm going to curl up here in my favorite drawer."

I did it.

I reached my goal of 40 drawings before February.

You can see Drawings 1-4 HERE and Drawings 5-18 HERE and Drawings 19-29 HERE.

Reflections:

There are some really good YouTube tutorials and teachers.
When I draw, I tend to focus on each line and pencil stroke and miss seeing the whole picture.
I simply do not enjoy drawing any more after a month of practice than I did when the project began. It was just a job I needed to get done each day so I could check it off the to-do list.

I feel like I'm disappointing some people who've been encouraging this drawing journey, but I just have not come around to calling it relaxing or looking forward to getting out the pad and pencil or being excited about what I'd draw next. I just did it each day because I was supposed to.

The experience wasn't a great big negative; there have been some good things.

I've been very surprised at how well some of my drawings have turned out.
A lot has been going on in real life. Unlike painting, my drawing kit can be picked up and done anywhere. That's been nice.
I'm sure I've learned some things that will help me as a painter. Those skills will surely reveal themselves when I begin painting again.

Drawn from YouTube lesson.

Drawn from color photo.

Drawn from YouTube lesson.

Drawn from black and white photo.

Drawn from doodling.

Drawn from YouTube lesson.

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Forty by February (Drawings 19-29)

Buff continues with his ever-present support of my drawing efforts.

I'm 3/4 of the way to reaching my goal of 40 drawings or sketches before February.

You can see Drawings 1-4 HERE and Drawings 5-18 HERE.

How's it going? Hmmm... That's not as easy to answer as it ought to be.

I've tried to intentionally not reflect on my drawing adventure while I'm in the middle of it. Today, I however, I had some epiphanies.

1st - I got to spend all afternoon painting. It was wonderful. I worked through some problems my painting had been having, touched up some color, then declared it finished. I was thinking how I loved to be in the art room painting once I'd finished all the day's "must do" jobs. It hit me that drawing was on the mental must-do-job list... not on the what-a-pleasure list.

Hmmm...

2nd - As I was getting near the end of the day's drawing, I realized that when I'm drawing, I never "see the whole." I'm so laser focused on the line below the eye or the smudge above the lip or the shading of the fold... that I don't take in the whole picture... just the pieces. Maybe that's why my drawings may look like a cute kid or pretty flower but don't look like the specific kid or flower or whatever.

Hmmm...

3rd - Finally I determined that I am a terrible student. I don't want to start at the beginning... drawing a ball or leaf or crumpled piece of paper. Oh, no! I want to jump right to a human face! I don't want to listen to advice from someone who actually is an experienced drawer. No, I just want to get to it.

Hmmm...

Sigh... Maybe just realizing these things will make a difference. We'll see how it goes with the last 11 drawings.