AEDM Days 25-28: Doodles and Sketches

Day 25 – Incorporating words into a zentangle, done in the car (thus the wiggly lines)

Day 27 – I didn’t do anything that I want to share on Thanksgiving Day, but I did do artwork, and I did a lot of work on the following day. Here’s my attempt at a free-drawn girl. I need a lot of work in the area of drawing people without having anything to look at!

Day 27 – Zentangle in red

Day 27 – A drawing of a random person in a magazine. I do much better when I have something to look at.

Day 28 – My daughter is a fan of Michael Jackson, so she wanted me to try to draw a picture of him (also drawn in the car, and leaving a lot to be desired, but at least it looks like him).

AEDM Day 22: Sketch of Andrea

Andrea, Thanksgiving 2006

Today I felt like sketching. I chose my usual inspiration — one of my children. This drawing comes from a picture taken of Andrea on Thanksgiving three years ago when she was ten. It doesn’t look exactly like her, but I’m not always concerned with exact likenesses when I draw my children, or people in general. I consider the person I’m trying to draw to be a jumping off point in an attempt to create a picture that looks like somebody. My aim is to capture a soul, a certain spark, or a glimpse of what it means to be human. I’m not sure I succeeded here, but I like it, and I’m happy that I’ve confronted my fears and attempted it.

I’ve avoided doing much sketching for AEDM because it scares me. It makes me feel naked and vulnerable to do it and to share it. I’ve been becoming more aware that it’s something that I need to do for precisely that reason. I’m even considering following AEDM with a sketch-a-day month in December. They say it takes three weeks to make a habit, and we’re three weeks into AEDM. I’m comfortable doing art every day when that terrified me in the beginning. Now I’d like to become comfortable with sketching.

AEDM Day 5: Leaf Pile

"Leaf Pile," watercolor pencil, unfinished

I’ve been successfully making art every day so far for Art Every Day Month, although I haven’t been posting every day because I’ve only been happy with some of it. (And I feel intimidated by much of the work of the other participants, only a little of which I’ve looked at because I haven’t wanted to discourage myself.) I only got this far on this drawing tonight before I began to feel too tired to finish. It took me half the night just to figure out what I wanted to draw. I’m already beginning to feel like I’m running out of ideas, and it’s only day five! I have my weekly art class tomorrow, however, and I’m hoping to get some inspiration there. My kids are obviously my favorite art subjects, and I’m learning that I much prefer drawing human faces and figures to inanimate objects. When it works, it’s like capturing a glimpse of a soul.

AEDM Day 3: Eye Art

"Eye Art," watercolor pencil, 11/3/09, AEDM

Art Class #1: Kitten In Andrea’s Arms

Art Class #1: Sketch

New kitten in Andrea’s arms

“When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all.” ~Les Brown

Andrea’s kitten backed into her arms, frightened of our dog (who is almost as frightened of her!). She had probably never seen a dog before Jewels. Likewise, I was afraid to start drawing, and I’m afraid to keep drawing. Putting pencil to blank paper for the first time in a long time, in front of an art teacher, was not easy. What I most want to get from art classes is to “jump start” the artistic side of myself that I haven’t paid much attention to for over twenty years. I was an art major in high school, and the art teacher was disappointed that I did not continue into college. (I ended up studying English Lit. instead, an equally “useless” major!) I am now on a mission to face the fears that caused me to give up drawing.

Pausing to Be

Manga sketch drawn today by Andrea

“Drawing demands that the artist pause, to be.” ~Pat Oblak

Every Child Is an Artist

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

~Pablo Picasso

Halloween Costume Plans, By Andrea, 9/6/09, pencil & ink