Drawing

Terry Grant wrote on her blog a few days ago about drawing (look for Green Quilt Drawing. I haven't figured out yet how to link you directly to a particular post); expressing the opinion that it is something artists should practice routinely. I guess I would agree that it would help. I have not done this over the years, even though drawing was my concentration in college. I do sketch in my sketchbook, but don't sit down to draw things as I see them. I use my digital camera to take pictures of what I see and can draw from them later if I wish.

I have been thinking a drawing a day would be a good practice. When I was in college, and before, I used mostly pencils to draw and would try to make the drawing look like what I was seeing (the perfectionist in me that I am trying to rid myself of). The drawings were "tight" and realistic. I'm not interested in doing that anymore.

Today I decided to sit down and do a quick drawing. I wanted it to be representational, but not necessarily perfect or exactly how the object looked. I chose this bird that I had found one day in a thrift store. I thought it was cute and it adds some whimsy to my studio.


I pulled a piece of paper from a foreign book which I bought used from the library and decided to use Crayola crayons with which to draw. You can not erase crayon and you can't be very precise with them either. Here is what I ended up with in a few minutes. I took the liberty of changing the colors and eliminating the heart. I like it.