Back to the drawing board...or maybe I need a fish.

Studio sketch-looking for values.... pen and ink

Mr. Parker, my first drawing instructor at Meredith College in Raleigh, taught me in drawing 101 that the hand is in direct connection with the brain.  When I hold a pencil or brush that is also directly connected.  The paper, connected.  Given this theory, the marks I make on the paper give you a direct look at how my brain describes what I see.

Here are a few things I've noticed.  I'm lucky that these are actually very common problems so I have hope.  My teacher and friend, David Gallup, assures me that this is "easy"  it just requires a tremendous commitment to drawing every day.  Time to exercise.

I'm a bit dyslectic when I look at things in perspective.  This means I have to consciously check the direction of shapes and lines to make sure they are going in the right direction.  I'm pretty sure this is "beginneritis."

I'm very "handed" with how I put marks on paper.  The marks go up from left to right at a slight angle.  I've actually discovered that if a picture looks skewed I can correct it with a 1% rotation to the right on photoshop.  If you look at the sketch at the top of the page you'll see what I'm talking about (Do you think I'm a little analytical?)

I see large shapes in fairly simple patterns.  Basically, I compose a painting or drawing like a big puzzle.  My mind divides whatever I'm looking at into logical shapes and they all click into place.  

I look at the edges of objects.  I'm working very hard to see patterns in terms of value.  Ok, to translate.  I'm trying to draw light moving across things rather than the things themselves.  That's what the drawing at the top of the page is about.  It's of people standing at easels in a studio at night. (If Steve R. is reading this you're the guy to the left.  You look right handed because I did this looking at your reflection in the window.  The person to the right is Morgan.)

I dislike uniformity, formal symmetry,  perfectly straight lines and large areas of unbroken space.   I work hard to avoid these things which, along with quick gestural strokes, lends a rather loose style to my work.

Hopefully I haven't lost my large audience at this point with my intellectual approach to my drawing abilities.  I promise to be a little bit entertaining.  I'll add a fun fact to the end of each of my postings.  It's the reward for getting to the end of each blog.  Feel free to scroll down and eat desert first!

Mr. Parker was a sweet, quiet man.  Very modest, it took us a year to convince him to show us some of his work.  His intent was to help us develop our own style from the start of our formal studies.  He eventually shared a personal story about his favorite pet.  It was a goldfish!  When Mr. Parker would go visit his son in Virginia, his wife would ride in the passenger seat with the goldfish bowl securely held between her feet.  I always pictured this little couple loading up their Honda with a couple of suitcases, her getting into the car and him handing her their beloved fish before taking off to Charlottesville.

Maybe I need a fish.