B pencil. I keep the bananas for Mark's lunch in a fruit bowl by the kettle so I'm often looking at them and thinking how I'd like to draw them 'some day'. Yesterday, I grabbed them and did just that! I particularly liked the lines from this angle but I wasn't sure if I could make it work. Now that I've finished, I wonder if I ever really looked at bananas before! After I draw something I look at it in a completely new way and I can really 'see' it. It's like when you have children and you wonder what your life was like before! What was I seeing before? I keep thinking my style is wrong, I should try and simplify, work with pens or paint but working in this way with pencil I take my time and explore the subject. Somehow I don't think I would do this in another medium.
I was reading 'Drawing From Within' today and in it the author tells us not to keep seeking out techniques, not to find out 'how' but to explore the 'why'. I've stopped making quilts because all the books I've read and the classes I've taken only explore techniques. It was becoming an end in itself and not helping me at all. Now that I've picked up my pencil again after 3 years, I feel I'm returning to the 'why'. I hope I can go back to quilting to explore colour but without all the unnecessary baggage I had before.
17 comments:
You should try drawing broccoli florets. Very challenging...
These are good enough to eat. I can smell them here. You got the moment of absorbing them in your drawing, and that moment seems to have passed to us who are looking at the picture. Wonderful work.
I can definitely relate your comments about technique. The quilting world gets quite wrapped up in that and does become and end to itself. I started down that slippery slope 10 years ago but soon burned out.
In the end I came back to very simple piecing. No need for fancy tools or techniques of materials.
That way I can concentrate on the why and the what and ignore the how. It was very freeing to turn away from the mainstream quilting world as it can really bog you down thinking you need the latest and the greatest.
absolutely wonderful! i'm trying my 2nd illustration friday w/ no art training, so i'm especially appreciative of your work. before i seriously tried to do something on my own, i didn't truly appreciate how much effort and skill that it took, even though i appreciated the finished work. great perspective -- looks good enough to pick up and eat!
Beautiful job, Felicity. I agree completely with your observation about never really seeing something completely until you draw it.
I too like the Drawing from Within book. I've been dipping into it lately. Your forshortening of the banannas is really really great. you inspire me.
Your bananas immediately made me wonder about the difficulties of drawing them from the other direction. I must try it next time I buy some.
I so agree with the frustrations of not being able to find more on the why of making. It is of course more difficult and something that is much better done on a tutorial basis. The why is firmly in the realm of the artist, and can be discussed, shown by example, but is difficult to teach.
Feedback is so much more easy to give on the how aspects - with the why one can only tell how the viewer reacts within their own emotions.
But I have found that concentrating on the why, dictated what techniques are appropriate to pursue. And it has been so liberating to rid myself of all the junk I used to have - just in case I might need it some day.
Beautiful job, Felicity. I can also relate to your comments about really "seeing" something fully when you draw it.
Love it.
Hello
I love your soft graphite style. Also it's very interesting to see what life in Kawait is all about.
Very nice, as usual.
You have your own style, but you should feel free to try other styles or techniques, even if the results are not so perfect at the beginning.
The most important is to have fun while drawing!
Wow, This is such a brilliant drawing. Yet another example of your stunning drawing talent.
MMM..Yummy!
You really are extremely talented....and I LOVE banana's! lol
beautiful rendering!!
Great drawing of the bananas!
I'd say they look right edible, but I can't stand bananas, so I won't say that. ;-)
Your pencil work is just so solid and amazing. I too observe and learn so much through completing an illustration which inspires me on to the next adventure.
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