I have been on a sketching kick lately. I have one of those personalities that obsesses about new things all the time. For a few months, it will be banjos or ukuleles or banjo-ukuleles. The past few months, it’s been watercolors and sketching. Here’s a whole bunch of recent pages I haven’t had a chance to blog about yet.
This sketch of a winding bridge in Linear Park in Rochester, NY. This sketch looked awesome about 20 minutes before I painted the daunting shadows in the middle of the page. Should have quit while I was ahead. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that, with sketching, less is more.
I love the texture of the wood and the shape of the bridge, but all I see now is the big shadow in the middle.
Also, some of my photos are a little blurry. Guess it’s a good thing I draw for a living, I’d get nowhere as a photographer.
My younger son’s hands are in the corner. I love having him pal around with me.
Again with the blurry camera. The turtle looks awesome when in focus. We found him along a trail while hiking the other day. There were hundreds of frogs all over the place and this one massive turtle in the middle of the trail waiting to be stepped on. The banjo and guitar were just quick little sketches for fun.
People at church and people in the airport.
Something I have been thinking a lot about lately. This was a tree in Temple Square in Salt Lake City, UT. The girly handwriting is mine.
A real quick sketch of the LDS temple in Salt Lake City. Took maybe 5 minutes to draw. I like it so much, I don’t dare put any paint on it.
Random stuff I drew while on an airplane. Note the two vaudevillian robots.
A plane at the Chicago Airport.
Another one of the Chicago Airport.
People at the Chicago Airport. I sat down by a Starbucks kiosk and drew all the people in line. They turned out great, except for the first one (top left). I’ve noticed that I can’t draw well all the time. Some days it’s not worth trying, everything comes out horrible. Other days I wonder how I could have created something so beautiful. The dude on the top of the page is one of those bad drawings you have to get out of yourself before you can draw the good stuff.
Some people I work with.
I totally identify with the some days it works and some days it doesn’t statement. I wonder why that is. The motor skills should always be there. The same eyes bring the information in. The same brain translates then regurgitates it. So why, can’t we consistently produce the kind of images that make us stand back in wonder? There is certainly something magical about it.
I don’t know Rusty. But it drives me crazy. Sometimes I just have to abandon a page and start something else. It’s almost like I have to get over the idea of drawing poorly before I can draw well. You think Picasso had bad drawing days? Or do you just get over it eventually?