“I draw like other people bite their nails.” Pablo Picasso
EASTER GREETINGS!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVELY RESPONSE!!
I think you will all agree it is a very strange Easter this year.
It is also the start of Ramadan and Passover, religious or not it goes to show there is more that unites than divides us. What a staggering waste of time and creativity Brexit seems amidst what the world is experiencing now.
Never has it been so important to nurture and protect our creativity. I have found the last week challenging. I set myself a goal to finish a commission before Easter. But these are unusual times, and rather than push myself I am having to accept my limitations as there is no “normal” at the moment. Be kind. Especially to yourself.
TASK
Set yourself some achievable creative goals. Make a list. One may run into the next. You might start something but come back to it in a few days/weeks later.
This will give you creative direction and it’s a fabulous way to tackle unresolved issues, the things you always fancied doing but never found time.
SKETCHBOOKS.
A drawing a day keeps entropy at bay.
One drawing a day. Drawing says more than a photograph ever will. It commits consciousness to paper and we should all be doing it.
Doing this will bring fantastic recall of this time. You will look back with a sense of achievement because everyday you made a visual note.
A friend, a fellow art student with me in Paris, every day she did a drawing of the same view from her window and later produced a lovely book from her drawings. Same view, different perspective.
Sketchbooks are personal, and we need to get personal with ourselves right now. They can be works of art in themselves, but remember you don’t have to show your drawings to anyone.
Michaelangelo did many, many working drawings that were really quite bad, they were never meant to be seen by anyone but himself, he was working something out.
Be aware of the sounds, smells around you. I find jotting down a few words helps and often become part of the piece.
Try to keep your drawing as free as possible. This way you may find one drawing happily rolls into another.
Like your friends, do not judge your drawings.
This is a daily exercise. Allow the energy to run from the eye, down the arm to the hand and pencil to your subject then back. Think of the drawing as a piece of string which you are simply unravelling in a relaxed way, allowing it to unfold in the shape it wants to be. You may even consider not lifting your hand, see what happens.
Choose a material you feel most confident using, I like charcoal or graphite pencil and graphite powder often dipping my fingers in it for different mark making. I also use a good putty rubber to “Take out” the image from the background.
Here is part of a quick sketch I did of a pelican, a few lines, fingers dipped in graphite and putty rubber to take out the white areas.
Working in this way sharpens the eye and hones technique. If you do several drawings, the chances are you might get one you like and it will be original.
Back to Basics folks! We are being forced into it and what could be more basic, or fulfilling than DRAWING.
LETS DO IT!
Stay connected. Stay Safe.
HAPPY EASTER, PASSOVER, START OF RAMADAN, BUT MOSTLY HAPPY DAYS TO COME, MM?
PLAYLIST
I’m enjoying listening to your favourites as well now, keep them coming.
I AM NOSTALGIC MODE.
Sunshine Baby Run Home Slow….. The Teskey Brothers (good fun)
I Will……The Beatles….. (Lovely memory)
A Swingin Safari….Bert Kaepfert and his Orchestra (nostalgic)
Man of the Hour…….Nora Jones ( we all love our dogs.)
A Little bit Me a Little bit You…….The Monkees.
PS. I AM ALSO DOING A VERSION OF THIS FOR CHILDREN AND PARENTS OF SMALL CHILDREN TO HELP THEM ENJOY THESE DAYS.