Recently, my step Mom asked me, "Since when could you draw?"
Hmmm? I'm didn't know that I could 😂 But, I'd always wanted to learn!
Inspired drawing, Picasso's The Guitarist 2001
So I pulled out my old rescued sketch book and thought about how I had been saying that I can not draw for quite a long time. But this does not sound right, because you see, I believe that anyone can learn things. Take gardening for example, I thought that I had a 'black thumb', but it was a matter of figuring out what needs to be done and practice doing it. With this idea I tried, and low and behold, I managed to keep plants alive! It is only when I do not practice what I learned that the plants will die. And with drawing, I always said that I can not draw, but people seem to tell me that I can, and well, I guess just like with gardening, you just need to practice.
All of my life I've been too intimidated by great artists to try making very much art myself. But sometimes I just can not resist the urge to doodle and draw. I always see things that i think would be so wonderful to paint, but don't because I doubt that i could do anything so beautiful. I would think that you would need to be able to draw to do anything like that. And, yes, it is hard, but anything worth doing and learning usually is. With practice, I learn more with every drawing.
Back in 2000, way before Youtube, I set out to try and figure it out more, and the public library is a great resource for all sorts of things including art and anything art related. At the library is where I started trying to figure out the whole process and what I must be missing. I read about art supplies and how to apply them, about great artists and studied my favorite artist, Reimbrandt. It was then that I decided that this was just a matter of practice.
Inspired drawing, Reimbrandt's A Women Bathing in a Stream 2001
It seems that the art bug only bites me with the change of the seasons or on certain holidays, and that I'm not always feeling it. At times like these I sometimes feel like I fail and it ruins my desire to try more. But it is only with practice that we can get better at things and for them to feel more natural, so I say, keep picking up that pencil and keep drawing, it is a matter of practice!
Pictured above is a self portrait from 2001, I was having a lot of trouble with faces and trying to learn by drawing more faces. I usually draw myself, so as not to offend anyone by messing up a drawing of their face, you know, mess up my own face. 😂
In February 2022, I got bit by that drawing bug again and wanted to try another self portrait, surprisingly it actually looks a lot like me, to the point that Google actually recognized it as me! With practice, I can feel and see how my drawing has improved.
This got me to thinking about all the people that I know that CAN draw and who, like me, say that they can not and need to just pick up the pencil! If for no other reason but for themself.
My youngest daughter, who also says that she can't draw, but she doodles all of the time, she drew this mushroom below, that I'd rescued from the trash, and it shows her potential. I love to see her doodling and knowing that she is practicing something she loves. Even the eye can be trained, with practice.
Spheres and crystal balls are among some of my favorite things and are a great way to practice drawing. I'd attempted several crystal ball drawings with mediocre results, but with this
tutorial on Youtube, practice, and the right paper, the results were very different!
So pick up those art tools and practice, practice, practice!
Thank you for stopping by.
Hope that you find joy and inspiration!
Best wishes and happy drawing!!
Ha!
If you have read this far, I would love to share;
I am not sure if it is just great algorithms or fate, but tonight, right after writing this today, I happened over to Youtube to watch some drawing videos. I'd watched a Silvie Mahdal tutorial before and she does beautiful art and art tutorials, so I clicked on this video of her drawing an eye and she happens to be talking about the same sort of thing that this post was about, except she puts it so eloquently and with so much heart and style. Just to watch her draw is mesmerizing! I highly recommend this video for any aspiring artist.
