Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I want to draw!

I've never been much of an artist. I've daydreamed of creating breathtaking doodles in a cinch, of sketching a beautiful landscape while sitting on a hillside (very Jane Austen like) and of adding watercolors to a quick room design I've done that would make it worthy to sit next to Albert Hadley's renderings.

Alas, I wasn't a kid who drew all the time. I took an art class in high school and the teachers didn't really know how to direct me. They encouraged me to loosen up my lines, to relax and they said everything short of "just get better at drawing". When I took a photography class in college the ability to create something lovely was exhilarating. It didn't matter that I couldn't draw a chair or make the vase look round - I had an eye for beauty and the camera was the means to capture it.

I have a husband who can come up with the most darling cartoons and creative patterns on a piece of paper that was left out. I love to appreciate his talent, to hang up sketches he did when he was a kid and to secretly want to punch him for the fact he doesn't even have to try to have this talent. (I sure do love him, in spite of his excessive talents.)

So in order to get my creative urges out of my system I plan to take more photography trips just for the fun of capturing life with my camera. I took one down to frozen Lake Erie last week and it was marvelous. Cold, but marvelous. I'll be adding a few of the shots to my Etsy shop later today, but here's a sneak peek:


It's such a different feeling when you're on a frozen beach. No waves crashing, just stillness.

But to sum up this rather scattered post - I want to keep going in the direction of creative outlets I know I have some talent for...but I do also want to get better at drawing. I have a book I bought back in college called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". It's full of lessons and exercises to help you learn to draw. We'll see how I do. Please, no expectations.

Anybody have any good tips for improving drawing skills?
(Simply posessing talent doesn't count as a tip.)

1 comment:

  1. I'm quite behind in following your posts, but, here I am! And, hurrah for you! I'm glad you're encouraging creativity and learning to draw. Thanks for getting me started painting, it's pretty much the same exercise for me...

    ReplyDelete

hey! thanks for your comment! (and for keeping it friendly)