From the yearly archives:

2009

Beneath – Exploration Drawing WIP

I’m working on an “exploration” drawing. My explorations begin with a feeling or meaning and I keep drawing until I find it on the paper. In this one, I’m looking for the feeling in this series of words:
under>beneath>shelter >protected >insulated
I’m not sure where the desire to draw “under” or “beneath” came from, but it had [...]

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Moving To Buchanan, Michigan

When a fork in the river comes along, sometimes you’ve just got to point your boat at it and see where it takes you. I won’t go into all the details but the river forked, my husband I took that new direction, and all of a sudden we find ourselves moving to Buchanan, Michigan.
Buchanan is [...]

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Key – What It Is, Why It Matters To Your Drawings, And How To Change It (Part Two)

It’s best to begin manipulating key after you know how to shade reasonably well but want more control. There are several reasons why you need to know how to control value.
Alter key to:

Express mood
Balance the composition
Create a focus
Indicate color differences [...]

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New Drawing Video – Three Pears

I’m drawing three pears from life in this video, and I added the narration afterwards. Hope you enjoy it! (And now you know what I’ve been doing this week.)

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Key – What It Is, Why It Matters To Your Drawings, And How To Change It (Part One)

In a previous post, I mentioned that it’s possible to realistically change the “key” of part of a drawing to make it work better. Key is the range of values in a drawing and manipulating those values is a little like playing music. If you play the same song in a higher or lower octave, [...]

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More Adventures With Depression, Anxiety, OCD, And Creativity

For those of you who don’t know, I started taking depression medication last September. I’m very happy to tell you that after seven months we finally found the right kind and got the dose adjusted to what I need. This took such a long time because when the medications took care of one [...]

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The Joy Of Drawing

In my last post, I talked about stashing away special drawing treasures to give your inner artist a treat, but there are lots of great drawings waiting to be discovered all around you too. Thimbles, silverware, candles, coins, mugs, small toys, tools, fruit, and all the everyday things you’re so used to that you don’t [...]

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Make Drawing Easier – Create A Drawing Stash

The best way to become very good at drawing is to draw nearly everyday, but finding something to draw is challenging sometimes. Some days time is too short to walk around until inspiration hits. On other days, inspiration needs a little push to get started. If you have a menagerie of drawing subjects to choose [...]

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Drawing With A Sense Of Touch

I’m working on another drawing video and my husband pointed out something after he watched it. When I look away from the drawing and at the subject, I keep right on drawing. I’ve tried to put this into words before and think it’s time to try again: Drawing is a felt thing.
There’s a “feel” to [...]

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Become a Better Instrument of Creativity

Good draftsmanship is the ability to record what you see with a drawing tool, but that skill does not necessarily lead to creativity. Creativity in drawing is the ability to interpret what you see or feel in a way that others connect with emotionally or visually. That certain something that makes art connect with others, [...]

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