Drawing Every Day

    I find time to paint practically every day because I have a small studio in my home. I know most people don’t that that advantage, but there are a lot of ways to work around limitations. The easiest, I find, is to DRAW EVERY DAY.

    A sketchbook and drawing pencil are nice, but they aren’t really necessary. Any paper will do. Lined notebook paper is not optimal, but it works. The clean back of junk mail works too. And while professional drawing pencils are wonderful, a regular pencil or a cheap ball point pen can be satisfactory. In fact, limited resources may hone your skills. The point is to draw every single day. People may think you’re just doodling. That’s tough because you have to define yourself instead of letting them define you. Just draw!

    Drawing can be a formal experience, too. Before COVID isolation, my wife and I took a series of weekly evening classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. We were given boards, a folding stool, and mediums (I know, the correct plural is media; but this is art). Each week the instructor led us to a different gallery to copy a painting or sculpture in pencil or pastels. By doing this I learned how artists approached their work. After about 90 minutes, we’d return to the classroom for critique, which was always positive. This was a wonderful discipline that required me to draw something I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to draw otherwise. But it got me drawing. And improved my skills.

    Around that time I broke my right wrist. I’m right handed. But I went to the classes anyway, and I drew with my left hand. I was awkward at first, but I quickly became dexterous. And I continued to draw.

     Another thing I find helpful is to find an artist you like and study that person’s work weekly. The library is a resource for finding books containing work by any artist. And the internet, of course, is also great. If you study one or two paintings by artists each week, you can learn a lot. It helps to ask yourself questions about the works: How do they use color? How do they use balance? What is the focal point? Where is contrast - and is it contrast by size, hue, or light and dark? How does they accomplish something you find a weakness in your work? Having asked yourself these questions, draw the entire piece or a portion of it. 

    The point is to draw every day. You’ll improve. I can’t guarantee that the images in your head will match what you put on the paper. Mine don’t. But they are closer than they used to be.

Draw!

Left-handed drawing after I broke my wrist. Conte crayon and charcoal on paper.