This was before my first grade teacher used my coloring of the courthouse to show the rest of the class three things NOT to do--which engendered a lifetime of paralysis with crayons, brushes, and pencils.
(To say I paint like a four-year-old is not a self-deprecating remark; rather, it captures the bliss I feel when pressing colors into pages, free and curious and childlike.)
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| A photo-app altered photograph |
Yesterday, I made something with Play-Dough and Elena looked at it and said, "Bootiful, Yenna!" in her encouraging mother-like voice!
From some of my artist friends and artist daughter, I am getting some excellent pointers (since I asked for them) and am reveling in learning.
Here's Day's e-mail to me yesterday:
I love watching your process. I also love that you added pictures of the drawings that appeal to you. I think one thing they all have is a clear sense of where the artist wants your eye to land. The strokes are confident (which yours will become). Idea: think about doing a drawing like making an advertisement for your idea. What would the viewer need to see as most important… and be courageous in knowing that your drawing alone can be enough to share the idea.
I love you.
off to cross country with the boys.
Day
Few things are more enjoyable for me than watching Day draw and paint!
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| My daughter, Day Anna (aka Daisy) turns 43 in one week! |
In writing, I know these things. I know that a piece of writing needs a focal point, a shape, not just an assortment of sentences. I know how to punctuate sentences and spell words. But in drawing--I want to shout, "Help, Somebody!" because I don't quite know how to hold the pencil and apply it to the page. We're talking basic here!
I stay up way too late watching tutorials on YouTube. I go in Michaels daily to take advantage of this week's 50% off coupons to buy various tools and colors and papers. I now know the difference between watercolor paper and tracing paper. I know that charcoal pencils smudge. I know that pictures in certain magazines (like National Geographic) have more "clay" in them than cheaper magazines, and I know the difference between Gesso and Mod Podge.
It's tempting to just collect the colors and keep them on the table--art supplies are inherently yummy.
As a lifelong teacher of writing, I know the basics I want someone to teach me are hard to teach. Everyone knows how to put words together because we write throughout our years of formal education. How many notes to friends and love letters to boys have I written in cursive? Not so with drawing. One can, as I did, get all the way to graduate school and beyond without ever having an art class.
We say, "I can't even draw a straight line." Until trying to draw the armoire for my homework this week, I didn't realize that straight lines and curved lines are extremely difficult! Joy has suggested that I just practice, practice, practice making geometric shapes--and now I see the rationale for doing that. My admiration for visual artists is growing by the day.
Nellie and Pam have sent links to various online blogs and demos. Joy, who has illustrated several beautiful books for children, sent a drawing showing how she uses thumbnails to play with placement of elements. (Check out the books on Amazon illustrated by Joy Hein!)
Pam gave me a list of iPad apps for doing playful things with (and without) photographs.
Paper 53
SketchMee
Doodle Dandy
Waterlogue
iOrnament
Photo Pal
I've not been able to install most of them because my iPad doesn't have enough available space and its operating system needs updating....but that shall be remedied with a trip to the Apple Store at some point.
With the free app Doodle Dandy, installed with no problem, Nathan made this design in a few seconds:
Designs such as theses can be saved as photos--and possibly incorporated into drawings?
Day has been drawing since she was old enough to hold a crayon. She seems to have an innate skill for lines and colors, and her pages clearly convey where they "want your eye to land." Her strokes are confident.
Watch little children with paint brushes and clay. Remember your own little girl self before she got self-conscious and timid. Banish the voices in your head of your first grade teachers who told you not to press too hard, not to use purple when the real courthouse was red, not to color outside the lines.
Here's to confident strokes!
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