Still practicing....some failures, some successes. The last photo of the dragonfly was made by my 13-year-old son as a visual aid for his research paper, and was his first serious drawing. He's a natural!
I attempted the deceptively simple subject of the tightly closed hydrangea bud thinking that it would be an easy subject to sketch. I was wrong. This is my 4th? 5th? attempt, and I'm still not happy, but have decided to let it go and move on. That is when I sketched, very quickly, the cocoon we found on a walk and brought home. I needed to take my mind off of that hydrangea bud, so I just kind of haphazardly started sketching it. It took just a few minutes and I was done and happy with it. I find this rather mystifying. The cattails were drawn with a combination of colored pencil and watercolor pencils. The watercolor pencils work much better in this particular journal which is only 90 lb paper and buckles and warps terribly with even a small amount of water.
This is what I do in the evenings now. Sit by the fire with the cat and Pandora radio and sketch. Sometimes I don't feel that I am really learning anything from all my mistakes. But, I know that if I just keep practicing, it will come.....eventually. I am inspired by the great Winston Churchill who said, "Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."
How do we make progress? by putting one foot in front of the other, over and over and over again until we get there. Yes.
12 comments:
Your son is a true natural!! He has a great teacher and mentor to walk along side him. Your sketches are so beautiful!! :))
Your son IS a natural!
You're doing brilliantly - and your son definitely takes after you! Loving these so much dear Starr!x
Lovely dreawings, Starr... and I agree with the quote as I've seen very talented students leave school as seniors, not much farther along than when they were freshman. I've seen students who didn't come in with raw facility work extremely hard, really wanting to be successful, and, in the end, grow tremendously in a few years.
Starr, I'm truly impressed by your son's sketching! The dragonfly is really good, and ahem, better than some I've seen in books even.
And your sketches are wonderful - I'm sure you are just too close to the hydrangea bud to appreciate it. I knew exactly what it was when I saw it. Love hydrangeas.
Have a great day!
Toni
Your son certainly takes after you, his drawing is beautiful. Don't beat yourself up about not doing perfect drawings every time, you are learning all the time and your drawings are definitely improving. Hope the bad weather hasn't reached your part of the country.
You work is stunning!!! Love the detail and crispness of your pieces! Wishing you a lovely week! Nicole xo
Lovely delicate work ~ the dragonfly looks about to take off!
Thanks for sharing this....
I love your beautiful, lovely, inspiring blog
I'm enjoying this series of drawings Starr, and talent does run in your family :-)
Amalia
xo
yes, continue to sketch, you will experience improvement.
i enjoyed seeing all these sketches. I agree with your, your son is a natural.
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