#11 Draw a journey

We are bombarded with information all around us. I didn't draw whilst driving, though. As passenger, I drew random signs and shapes I saw in passing along the route of our journey. 

#10 Draw a shadowy image

SHADOWY (Oxford English Dictionary)

1. Full of shadows
2. Of uncertain identity or nature
3. Insubstantial; unreal

Last night, as I walked down the road, street lights were casting patchy shadows of trees onto the pavement. 

My intention was to draw shadows in the semi-darkness at the Record Club. However, I sat with friends and felt too self-conscious to do it. Instead I took some photos and used them as my source material back at home. 

I tried to portray something of the 'uncertain identity' of the shadows in the drawings. In the first one (above) I built up layers of pastels and charcoal. The composition creates a feeling of depth & shadows without being totally clear about the subject matter.

However, I prefer the second, more quickly sketched, drawing which I find more lively and mysterious.

#9 Draw in colour the sounds you can hear

Two main trains of thought stemmed from this prompt:

• What colour do the sounds evoke?
• What line or form would represent them?

I did these two drawings at different times of day. Whilst doing the first one there were lots of sounds from various sources overlapping each other, some intermittently, others continuously or regularly. Some were sudden sounds whilst others faded in or out.

The second drawing was done whilst I was alone and all around was very quiet. It was interesting to listen carefully and hear what was not, after all, silence. 

#8 Find a reflection of something and draw it

Glazing keeps artworks clean but reflections on glass sometimes disguise the image underneath. With the current drawing prompt in mind whilst at an exhibition I became quite distracted by reflection-art creations.

 

An old mirror on a relatively empty wall, on the other hand, purposefully reflects and the composition changes with each movement of my head. 

#7 Draw your finger

One finger on its own looked quite amusing, and maybe unrecognisable, so I continued and drew some of the ones it was attached to. In reality, I prefer the weirdness of the solitary finger; I think it's a more interesting drawing.

#6 Draw some fierce marks

An age-old issue was raised by the phrase 'Draw some fierce marks'. 

What constitutes 'drawing'? It is a term very difficult to define and often interpreted as a representation of an object or idea by lines, usually in pencil or pen and without colour.

I prefer to interpret the term more broadly using a variety of media to make different types of marks. I looked up definitions on-line and they were many and varied. This one from the Urban Dictionary probably best sums up my approach:

"the act of making marks on a surface so as to create an image, form or shape" (Urban Dictionary)

For this drawing I wanted to use something to make bigger, bolder marks; to put energy and force into the actually making of the marks. Firstly I used charcoal, making big scratchy lines back and forth. 

I deliberate over whether it would be acceptable to use paint as I would like to make thicker, more textured marks. Then I remembered that really there are no rules. This is my 'drawing' and I can do whatever I want with it. What I refer to as 'challenge' cards, are actually 'prompts'; starting points to be used as inspiration to stretch drawing, ideas, creativity and confidence. There is no right and wrong.

The paint marks were ok but I still didn't feel I'd really got the energy into 'fierce' marks. What I wanted to do was to splash paint across the top of the other marks, using sharp swings of the arm. I had to challenge myself again on the 'what is drawing issue' but in reality, what did it matter if the end result was something that expressed fierce marks?

#5 Draw something that makes you smile

What a dilemma over 'draw something that makes you smile'. I did these drawings in response to Ynes, my 7 year old neighbour, recently telling me about her new dwarf hamster, Caramel, who fits in her hand. Tony asked how big she would grow and apparently they never grow! They stay the same size as they are when they are born.... only maybe their legs grow longer. It made me smile every time I thought about it. 

I found it really hard to draw hamsters and hands but had fun doing it. The following evening, as I was contemplating whether to tweet the whole page of scribbled drawings or just clip out what might be the best, I met Ynes crying her heart out because Caramel had died. I contemplated long and hard about whether it was heartless to tweet my drawings of what made me smile under these circumstances. I also wondered what I could do for a little heart-broken girl. I could hear her sobbing out in the garden, so tore the page out of my sketchbook and took it round to her. I explained that someone had asked me to draw something that made me smile, and that her stories about Caramel had done that. I said I'd like her to have the drawings to remember Caramel. 

Sometimes the best things happen when we dare to take risks. I wasn't sure how she would respond, but she looked at the drawings and smiled and gave me the hugest hug. Hopefully my weird drawings will bring a little comfort to a sad little girl.

#4 Draw your mood right now

Second drawing

Calm, happy, creative.

The second attempt (above) seems more like me and my mood than the first one (below) which feels too twee and more like something you'd get on a birthday card. I wasn't going to add it on the blog but I need to have the courage to include drawings I don't like. 

Often work that I'm tempted to abandon at early stages actually becomes the base for something else worked over it. Maybe I'll come back to this with some bolder marks and different media later.

First drawing (abandoned)

#3 Draw a machine

The next card stated 'Draw a machine'. I pondered over whether to draw an imaginary machine or a real one and initially opted for the former.

It was quite tricky working out what would link with what as I was just making it up as I went along. Looking at it now, I like the drawing more than I did at the time. It doesn't really matter that it wouldn't actually function as a real machine! 

I then turned to photos I'd taken of an old printing machine at Bradford Industrial Museum.The madness of all the different parts, shapes, lines and numbers is what interests me. Going for a quick drawing approach meant that I didn't get too tied up in trying to draw every bit of detail, but it still gives a feeling of interlinking parts.

#2 Open a book and draw an illustration for it

Having had fun with the 'eyes closed' drawing challenge, Andrea offered me a prototype set of 20 drawing cards, each with a different task, to test drive. It's a great opportunity to stretch my mark-making, although a little daunting when I give a quick glance through the cards. 

I have set my own parameters:
Do one a day.
Always take the next one from pack so there's no picking the topics I feel comfortable with. 
Don't spend hours on the tasks - I want to make quick responses with deliberate marks.

The top of the pack reads 'Open a book and draw an illustration for it'. What a scary start but I've said I'll do it!

I am currently reading 84 Charing Cross Road. I opened it at a random page which was about a book signing event on a rainy day and how the author felt about book signings. 

In most circumstances I would have taken fright and said I couldn't do it, but I did it. I actually like having this constraint of just having to get on with it!

#1 Close your eyes and draw your face

@andreanhj tweeted: "close your eyes and draw your face" then send it to me please! I'm testing prototypes @derbymuseums #FindingLines



I don't normally draw portraits but decided to take up the challenge.

Eyes shut, I tried to concentrate on where where I was taking the pencil line and where to move next. 

OK my ears are a little displaced but I think it's probably more like me than if I'd drawn with my eyes open. Maybe that's because I'd be deliberating more over each line and mark whereas this approach is quite quick and spontaneous.

I decided to have another go, this time wearing my festival hat. The outcome was an amusing but much more erratically arranged face than my first drawing.

The third attempt was similarly chaotic. For some reason I seemed to manage the hat better than the face. I think it's probably because I  pretty much drew the hat in a continuous line. Once I'd lifted the pencil off the paper it was difficult to judge how far I'd moved it and where the rest of the drawing was.

My friend Nikki added another challenge: Put the paper on top of your head and draw someone else. This was really difficult!

So here is Tony cooking our camping breakfast. 

Thoughts: Fun to do. Results are amusing although not always recognisable. The approach made me focus on the main features and shapes instead of getting sidetracked into too much detail.