Time To Stretch (Again)

Lots of things happening in my life (most of which are boring and routine, but they chew up the hours), and that’s kept me from doing much beyond the routine writing for this blog. On a recent weekend, I decided to try something new. You may remember earlier this year that I tried my hand at throwing clay with a pottery wheel. The experience was wonderful, even if the results left something to be desired!

At the start of this month, I decided to stretch my wings again. This time trying something new that ties in with the ongoing projects I’m working on. I’m not sure why I re-opened my “MeetUp” app. It’s been ignored for years now. I had tried it, didn’t have much luck and moved on. This time, I discovered a local group called “Shut Up and Art”. The idea is simple, gather a group of like minded folk to spend an hour silently drawing. My sketching skills have profound limitations, and that has hampered my watercolors. I want to improve them, but that requires me to self-motivate. Not a strong suit. So, joining a group might be the bridge I need to improve. Saturday mornings, but not too early, and at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art (VMFA), one of my favorite places in Richmond. What’s the worst that could happen?

I can’t answer that last question, because only good stuff happened.

The group was small, just six of us. Youngest artist was a senior in high school, the oldest was…me. After some getting to know each other chatting, we went upstairs to one of the collection rooms dedicated to English countryside paintings. Mostly involving horses. If you’ve never done any sketching/drawing/painting you may not know that horses are hard to draw. They are an elegant collection of unlikely curves and lines. Get the proportions off even slightly and even an untrained eye will know something is wrong. Based on that, I made my decision quickly.

I would NOT be drawing horses.

Instead, I chose to work on the architecture of one gallery. Perspective is a struggle for me, so choosing a straight-forward straight lines setting seemed to be a good choice. I had seen a video that demonstrated a different way to approach the challenge. Thought I’d give it a try.

(If you look closely, you’ll see I did make a pass at drawing a horse at the end of my session. I consider it a victory since it is recognizable as a horse)

The time passed quickly, to my surprise. My sketchbook provided the biggest issue. The cardboard backing on the tablet was not stiff enough to draw comfortably. I’ll have to find some way of creating a more solid surface for next time. Despite the challenge, I’m happy with the results. It’s given me a little more courage to try again, and further develop my skills. So, in two weeks I’ll be back to try again!

Here’s what I did, along with a photo of the actual subject. How do you challenge yourself? What skills would you like to improve on? Feel free to share in the comments.

Peace.