Currently Browsing: Why Draw? 159 articles
What Am I Going to Get Up To Now? Trouble?
We’re months out from my cataract surgeries. At last month’s eye doctor visit we learned more. I’ll write a detailed post about what’s going on soon. I won’t kid you, it has been a frustrating time. Not a day has gone by since January 30 (when they pulled off the first eye patch) when […]
The Piecemeal Portrait Tutorial That Wasn’t
To keep myself drawing while I’m working out what my post-cataract eyesight will be I’ve been videotaping my sketching sessions. I find that the resultant videos allow me to look again at my process and ask myself questions about the progress I’m making with my eyesight. It also takes the focus off of whether or […]
Sketching in Family Situations: Creating New Family Contracts
If you desire to sketch at family gatherings and visits but it seems impossible this post is for you. If you already have sketching integrated into your life I suggest you stop reading and go sketch. Recently a blog reader wrote the following to me I love your posts and your portraits! How do you […]
A Little Bit of Bright Color in a Portrait
You already know how I feel about the paper in the Arteza Watercolor Book—pretty ambivalent at best; but there is nothing like a bit of bright color to make you smile. And if you are working loosely with a flat brush, you might just start giggling because you’re having so much fun. Get out your […]
Hair Cuts and Their Aftermath
Nope I didn’t have a hair cut. I still have my braids. Periodically I give CR a hair cut. He’s too frail now for me to load him into the car and take him to the female barber I found for him, and whom he grew to enjoy. Now he has me. After the hair […]
Focusing on Doing and Not on Naming
Several people wrote to me after my last post When Drawing Isn’t Fun. Most said that they found it helpful in starting an internal dialog with themselves about their creative practice. But one of my Urban Sketcher friends Tina Koyama wrote a very important point in her comment on that post: Grief. The grief of letting […]
When Drawing Isn’t Fun
Recently a student wrote to my Drawing Practice group that she wasn’t sketching daily and wasn’t having fun when she did draw. Despite the fact that what she was drawing looked great and showed that all her hard work was paying off, she couldn’t see the value in it. This can happen to anyone at […]
Why Drawing Matters
Drawing matters for a number of reasons. Last week I had a note from a past student who had recently lost her mother. The student had stopped drawing for months. Grief disrupts life in a thousand ways. When I was writing to her I was thinking about my own maternal loss this year, the death […]
Limited Choices Lead to Successful Projects
After my post last week about doing creative projects many people wrote in to tell me that they were inspired to start a project. One accomplished artist wrote in to ask advice: Just looking for advice. After listening to the podcast on projects I’ve decided to take up the challenge. Over the years I’ve […]