Wednesday 1 April 2020

Drawing - reach for the cupboard

You don't need a scenic view or a still-life set up to have something to draw.
At art college in the late 70's we had to draw tins of food in both black and white and also in colour, reminiscent of the Andy Warhol 'Campbell's' soup tin and 'Coke' bottle images.
I recall also painting empty room layouts with central heating pipes and odd bits of plumbing, but using vibrant blocks of flat gouache, resulting in an abstract composition that resembled a room. Moving into surface design, this observational drawing habit set me on a path for life.

Today I have chosen a simple geometric subject for you, don't worry if yours turns out a bit wonky or doesn't 'look right' just enjoy the process of looking and drawing.

Liquorice All sorts.



Put a clean sheet of white A4 paper on the table in front of you.
With clean hands or gloves (because you are probably going to eat a few of these after you have drawn them) place a selection of sweets on the paper. Try and select ones that are very different, dark ones, light ones, striped ones, this will make your drawing more interesting.

Use a pencil and perhaps a putty eraser and off you go!

If you have some colouring pencils, even better. Once you have had a go at a black and white version, you can then rearrange your composition and do it in colour.

A good tip for you is to blend your colouring pencils rather like you would mix paint. You can manage with surprisingly few colours.
Just because you don't have the exact colour doesn't mean you wont be able to create it.



Another subject which works well is Buttons. 
I have a button box with buttons in all different shapes and sizes, they can also be a good subject, make sure you select a few in different sizes and colours, with and without holes.

Radio on, or some music playing - what a calm way to spend an hour or two.
Stay home - stay safe.



1 comment:

ferrelli said...

Thank you, Fiona, for these golden nuggets of inspiration you’ve been sending out. They are most certainly a change of pace from the worries and events of the day and give me something else with which to spend my time on and engage in. Blessings to YOU for blessing all of us who read your blog! Sue Ferrell, USA