I Challenge Thee

2013 and I'm on a roll again.  Wahoo!

Typing "drawing" in the Pinterest search box a few months ago would result in a "30 Day Drawing Challenge" - a list of objects and people to draw.  I didn't pin it - just didn't fit my journey, but I was eventually inspired by it.  I created my own drawing challenge in late November and officially started January 3.  It includes a variety of skill building exercises or new techniques to try.

Day 1: A pen & ink value scale - draw increasingly smaller patterns to create light to dark values.
Day 2: Finish documenting my watercolor pan set.  I'd drawn the page a month ago in a watercolor journal, but had neglected finishing.  Now it's done and the bright colors are inspiring.

Taken with my phone due to low camera battery & lack of patience.

Yesterday - Day 3: Drawing with my left (non-dominant) hand. When you start out knowing you have less control, it's actually quite freeing.  The perfectionist takes a break.  The inner critic shuts down.  The process is shaky and feels odd, but not as bad as I had imagined.   The imperfect lines have a certain charm to them I think.  I don't find myself saying - well, good grief - coulda' done better.  Aaah.

I've moved on to a bigger sketchbook -less bright, thinner, rougher pages - good for pencil sketches.  The different paper may not photograph as well.  We'll see when I actually use the camera.




PS - All you people who received some type of sketchbook and art supplies for Christmas.  (Yes, YOU!)  You could do these challenges.  Hmm.  Actually, anyone with any kind of paper could.  Really - give it a try.  Right now.  Get out those pads you tucked away (or a piece of paper out of your printer) and give it a whirl!

There Will Be (cadmium red) Blood TONIGHT!

fun with new pens

There is a battle going on nightly in my house.  It is waged with pen, pencil & paper.  It is waged between the Pinterest-pinning, doodle-loving, letter-making whimsicalist (yes I totally just created a word) and the Leonardo-admiring, charcoal-wielding, traditional-technique-practicing realist.  The whimsicalist doodles on the realist with her new color pens.  Meanwhile, the annoyed realist can't find the good pencil sharpener and the drawing exercises never turn out perfectly anyway.  Sigh.

When imagining this journey, I saw myself sitting down daily to work through drawing exercises and sketching life around me.  Enter the world of art journals.  There is a whole genre of art out there I wasn't really aware of.  People who create fun pages of words and doodles and patterns and textures and color  - with some or no realistic drawing incorporated.  It feels more crafty to me, but it is tempting.  I try to mix it up - do a little of both.  Whimsy is winning lately.  I want to believe it's my inner illustrator at work.  I've created motivational sketchbook (art journal) pages trying to convince myself it's okay to veer off a bit.  So far I'm not falling for it.  Sometimes I think, "Hey, that turned out kinda' cool."  However, usually I think, "Okay, that was fun, but tomorrow I need to do some 'real' art."

Hence the dilemma.  Is this helpful, useful, or does it matter?  Does any kind of practice advance my skills?  Or is it just lazy and another form of procrastin(art)ing?  Someday there may be answers.  The journey continues and I'm wondering how many diverging roads there will be in these yellow ochre woods.  Onward ho... or ... to the battlefield!  There will be blood tonight! (best movie ever!)

Art practice for the realist.  Blind contour giraffes - a lesson from the Drawing Lab book.  I must admit - I used to hate this technique, but it's growing on me.