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.
