Tuesday evening provided a needed change. The memoir group was to have met, but 50% of the group canceled. One didn’t feel well, and the other is in the midst of writing a novel this month and wanted to focus on that. So the remaining member and I met at a local bookstore for coffee and chatting. She’s quite involved in other creative activities, so I picked her brain about where to find such things.
For example, I learned that once a month at two county libraries, there are craft nights. People gather in a meeting room with their projects to socialize and work. And then there is Santa Cruz Free Skool, which sounded enticing. I shared my experience with Trance Dance and my inability to find it here. She had a few ideas. I did end up finding one event listed at a local spirituality center, but I missed the November event and nothing is listed for December. I was spoiled, because the facilitator in Austin has an excellent website and offers so much more than I could find here. The challenge with locating things here is that there is no one location to search under. In Austin, it was “trance dance” and “Austin.” Here one needs to try “bay area,” “silicon valley,” or each of the city names: San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Campbell, Cupertino, Mountain View, Atherton, Menlo Park, Milpitas, etc. And there are many more… how far one is willing to travel determines how many searches to try.
The visit with this friend was so energizing! I also learned a bit more about how she does collage and got a tip on the type of adhesive she uses. Then we parted, and I went and drooled over books for awhile. I’ve enjoyed the drawing I’ve done this month, but I do need some guidance in learning to see, drawing techniques, and understanding perspective. Because I’ve been restless, my husband actually assigned me to purchase two books. Whee! He teases me that I read dark existential “boot to the head” novels about people’s troubled lives. So one book had to be a fun novel. I chose Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, since I’ve not read Tom Robbins in awhile. Then I picked from numerous drawing books one that seems to cover the basics, provide exercises, and is visually accessible: The Everything Drawing Book.
Today I took myself out. First I went to downtown Campbell, which I’d been told is pretty and has an excellent farm market on weekends. Yes, it is pretty. I’ll have to go back to see if the market lives up to hype. I visited a small pagan store there that my friend recommended. (Austin has that type of shop in abundance, but here, not so much.) I browsed through a used bookshop, where I found an older edition (in excellent shape) of The Natural Way to Draw : A Working Plan for Art Study, which is beyond my scope right now, but was highly recommended. Since it was $5, how could I say no? I also found a copy of a book I’d sent to my father but never did read myself, Uncle Tungsten : Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks. I’ve enjoyed Sacks’ other work, and this didn’t seem too “boot to the head” in nature. I also had a chance to admire, but not meet, the bookstore cat. His name is Isbn (get it? ISBN = International Standard Book Number). He was busy doing what cats do best. Sleeping.
From Campbell I went to Michaels to price adhesives (but didn’t buy, showing great restraint). I found at Home Depot more wonderful putty called Quakehold. I use it to hang un-framed artwork. It’s more malleable and sticky than other types of putty adhesives, and a little goes a long way. Then I did some holiday shopping, got my hair very slightly trimmed, and went to a do-it-yourself carwash. My poor car desperately needed it, and who knows? It usually rains after I wash my car. It’s unseasonably warm and dry here; we could use a change in weather. Washing my car meant it was ready for the two bumper stickers I’d got in June: “Keep Austin Weird” and “On Earth As It Is In Texas.” Yes, as lovely as it is here, I do miss good old hill country.
All that exploring and interacting tired me out, so I had a sweet two-hour nap afterward. The hub came home, I cooked dinner, and now I’m re-charged. I wonder what art will come of this?
a good day after all, eh? I am glad for you. Oh, and your hubby is right. Happy books make you happy, dark books make you depressed. I have experienced myself. So now I am feeding my mind the right stuff: lovely blogs like yours!
Esther
Kathryn,
At age 51, I have begun a watercolor course. Having had no formal art training since elementary school, yet despite my self-taught skills in the graphic arts, I was determined to not only learn to paint, but also to draw/sketch. I literally was afraid to draw because of the constant put-downs from the last art teacher all those many years ago.
Each one of my (thus far) 14 watercolor lessons (I receive a lesson every two weeks) has contained a section that my teacher calls “Drawing What You See”. Each has provided a way that enables us to better draw what we see.
After the very first lesson, I decided that the only way that I was going to overcome my fear of drawing was to draw or sketch at least ONE THING every day, no matter how simple (a sketch of my monitor, the coffee cup beside me, the paintbrush holder, a dead leaf…whatever…as long as I did it every day. Sometimes a sketch takes me less than 5 minutes. Other times it may take me several hours. I often use photographs as subject matter. This helps me to discover what is important to retain and what can be left out in order to simply render the subject.
I am now to the point that I draw all of my watercolor subjects (rather than doing any tracing), and I often find myself reaching for my sketchbook to draw just for the sake of drawing.
I keep my media very simple. A spiral-bound sketchbook 5.25″ x 8.5″ and 3 sketching pencils, usually an H, a 2B and a 4B for adding value. (ROFL..and a BIG eraser!) When I first began, I did not do any shading nor did I try to add texture, but now I have begun to include these. I left out details, using only what was absolutely necessary to describle the subject so that someone looking at it might know what they were looking at.
The real key, though, has been taking the time every single day to draw something.
Best wishes,
Robin
keep austin weird. hehe. i do wish boston was more weird. ah well.
your day sounds so magnificent. i would love, love, love a day like that full of good conversation and bookstores and exploring. what adhesive did your friend recommend?
I have to second Robin’s words: one of the best things to do to improve your drawing is just to go and draw.
I wrestle (and have wrestled) with this all the time. AEM is actually the third time that I’ve made the effort to draw on a regular basis. The first was after receiving Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain, the second after receiving an animation book (I think it was this one), both as gifts. I still haven’t finished either book (and I received them years ago now — one of these days, I tellya…) but despite being technique books focusing on essentially two different things, both seemed to convey to me that the best way to improve one’s drawing skills was basically to just draw as much and as often as possible.
I’m certainly hoping that I’ll keep this up well after AEM is over. (although not the part about staying up late to finish things. Oy.)
Kathryn, you’re very lucky (or psychic) to have found a copy of the Nicolaides book, The Natural Way to Draw. It’s a classic, the best book on drawing ever, and it has influenced countless teachers of art (incl.me). I still have my ancient copy and cherish it. Go! But don’t lose your wonderful fresh, un-academic way of drawing/seeing.