#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)