Hay Fields & Clouds

©Robin Edmundson, 'Hay Fields & Cloud', 10 x 14 inches.  Framed to 16 x 20 inches.  $375

One of my goals for taking Ian Roberts' drawing class was to have a more anchoring, practical and productive creative process.  [Translated, that means to find a way to actually DO and enjoy doing value studies.  It just makes for better art.]

I started with a drawing from the class [now a study group], and painted draft after draft after draft of the scene, learning all sorts of things along the way. 

The composition evolved.   I stopped looking at the reference photo a drawing pretty quickly and by the 8th draft [the painting above], I was mostly working from memory.

Here is the original drawing:

Working with pencil is a whole different ballgame from working with watercolor, so I am never trying to copy that drawing exactly, but rather take the structure and play with it in different ways until I find one or two that I can live with. 

Even More Thoughts on Magic

This is another drawing from my class with Ian Roberts.  It's amazing how when you arrange a few lights and darks a certain way, suddenly a scene appears. 

Almost by magic.

I've been writing a lot about this kind of magic.  See my posts HERE and HERE. 

I realized as I looked through my work during the class, that there's still a big part of me that does not believe that I drew that. 

That part of me believes it must have been magic.   Some power outside of me that on a good day I can tap into, but not reliably, not regularly, not predictably. 

That was a surprise.  And then I reminded myself that it's not magic.  It's illusion.   

I got so caught up in the success of the illusion, that I bought into the 'magic' part of it too.  

Doing one of these a week for the next year is the best way I know to really internalize that these are reliable skills, not unpredictable magic bestowed and withdrawn at the whim of the Muses.  

  

Keeping it Simple

I'm taking a drawing class right now and for the next year will be doing a drawing a week like this one.

This time the reference photo was provided by the instructor, Ian Roberts and the exercise was in cropping.   The ref photo was a bigger scene of a French village.   

I'm pretty familiar with simple architecture and roof lines, but this piece gave me fits. I wasn't sure I could do it. I struggled. I fussed and fussed and fussed.  I made many disparaging remarks about French villages.  

In the end, I got the darks and lights in the right places and it looks as intended - like a French village.  

I learned more than drawing in this piece.   I learned that I can do more complicated, fussy compositions IF I remember to leave large areas very simple and to focus only on the details in the focal area.   

I have to keep repeating that to myself .   Keep it simple.  Keep it simple. 

I have a tendency to expect things to be hard.  Part of me wants them to be hard so that when I finally get it, it feels like a huge accomplishment - one deserving of a large reward.  [Which I never give myself, btw.]  It's how I prove my worth.  

However, over the years, this habit of doing hard things has been accompanied by a goodly amount of fear. I am always battling to prove myself. I'm always afraid that this time I won't be able to pull it off.

 

I need to stop.

I keep wondering if there's a way to make things easier and I think this is the key:  Keep it simple.  Keep the harder work just at the focal area.   

In this drawing class we spent a lot of time learning to intentionally focus on the important stuff and to intentionally simplify the rest. 

This is a strategy worth cultivating in many areas of my life.