Taking an early walk before heading out to have coffee with the boys at the senior center. It is our new meeting place for now and is where I take my chair yoga classes once a week. The weather is way too hot and humid to walk later in the day.
I am still going to the library to write on Tuesday afternoons. This week the time was devoted to finding the words in rhyme for the Down the Rabbit Hole book. Then yesterday I reworked those words to go with the order of illustrations. Some more tweaking and I think I have it.
So then it was back to the concertina book of illustrations and stories. The Warrior Chief is finished and I think I will write his story poem while at the library this week. Something with bravery and his little muse that rides along on his shoulder whenever he heads off into battle.
The next page of leaf prints was just begging to have something drawn…..so I decided a frog would be good. He has a backpack where he keeps his crown while traveling in search of a princess willing to lay a kiss on him. Needless to say, I stopped myself before I got too far because I could tell I was getting too caught up in his optimistic anxiety. I need to go back to drawing leaves or baskets.
Actually I could draw according to my written bit on how to draw something from one of my Tuesday sessions. I will add it here because this is a short post. A friend from poetry is bringing her granddaughter over to talk Australia. The said granddaughter just returned from her stay there working for a clothing design company and fell in love with the country. I will enjoy sharing stories with her.
Here is the drawing lesson.
Drawing S. Webster
I need to find something to draw. That is the first step. Next, lay a piece of paper at an angle, top edge leaning down on the left. Place a kneaded eraser nearby and pick up the mechanical pencil. I’ve chosen a wine bottle opener, turn it in my hand to see how it should look on the page. There. Flat on is always easier than the demands of perspective. I never get things right if looking at it from the foot or head. Lay it directly under my gaze and there it is. Now put that on the paper. Start drawing the left side first. Get all that perfect before moving a little to the right to get the next part. No sides of the palm smearing over fresh loose graphite. If it happens, shape the kneaded eraser to fit the parts needing to be removed. Continue drawing to the right and down. Decide where it needs to be darker, where the shading needs enhanced. Remind yourself that this might easily end up as a wadded-up ball in the bin. I could start over. But I won’t. Feelings of failure take over. Maybe try again tomorrow. Pour a glass of wine. Think about how much easier it would be to draw a glass of wine.
Better go…
Til later…