Don't Mind the Arrow

Shedding Some Light

Pulled out a prompt the other day, and this is what I got:

This is the one in our alley. I love all the power lines connecting everywhere. This is the third time I believe that I've drawn something with a mass of power lines, and I have realized that I find them kind of fascinating. I'll have to poke around some more in Google street view to find some other good scenes with them. I decided before I started this one to do it just as lines, with no shading at all, and to just let the shapes speak for themselves. It was a fun little sketch to do.

Click

The other evening I figured it was about time to pull out another Everyday Matters prompt and draw something. So I did, and this is what I got: number 164, draw a camera.

Well, there is no shortage of cameras to draw around here.

So I picked my newest addition to draw, which in that photo is on the bottom shelf in the brown case. It's a Balda Baldessamat-RF, a little rangefinder made in West Germany. I have put a roll of film through it and absolutely love the results. Oh but right, the drawing. The post is about the drawing, not the camera.

It's ... not the greatest drawing ever. But I didn't worry about it too much. The point was just to do the sketch and get the basic details down, which I managed to do. For me, doing the Everyday Matters sketches isn't about getting them perfect, it's about seeing the imperfections and being okay with them.

I'm Ready for My Close-Up

Two weeks? It's been two weeks since I posted here? I knew it had been a bit, but I'm kind of surprised by that. Or I guess kind of not, really. I was gone for 4 days, to California for Emily's graduation, and then I was sick for I-lost-track-of-how-many days. But finally I started feeling better and then I remembered that I still hadn't finished posting my Every Day in May drawings, so here I am.

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson about drawing things with stitching back when I drew a zipper. On the other hand, this was meant to be a finite drawing - just a part of something. And I did have fun with the fussy details in the last drawing. For this one, I picked up my wallet and drew the decorative front of it. This one was done on different paper, which was much smoother, so the process and results of shading are a little different. I'm happy with how it looks, but I didn't much enjoy working on the paper.

Hard To Handle

Yes, sometimes the post titles are just whatever random phrase/song title comes into my head from the drawing. Anyway, I guess there were probably lots of possibilities with this prompt - all kinds of handles to consider. However, the Bachelorette was on and I just wanted to sit down and draw while making fun of all the poor schlubs, so I ran around and grabbed the first thing I found with a handle.

And of course, now that I'm thinking about it I can come up with at least 10 other things I could have drawn. Ah well, I'll come back to those sometime. For this day's drawing, it was the French press. Morgan used to make coffee with it, but I didn't really like the way it tasted so I guess he fell out of the habit. Oh, and we also got an espresso machine as a wedding present and that's been our usual source of coffee in the winter at least. In the summer, we drink iced coffee and Morgan has a toddy for that.

You're Making Me Cry

I'm glad I don't do the cooking around here, because I've never found a technique for dealing with onions that worked for me. I was never brave enough to try cutting them underwater (I am a klutz even when cutting things on my counter top). As it is, my eyes often water when Morgan is cutting them and I'm in a completely different part of the apartment. I guess maybe I'm just hyper-sensitive.

It was kind of interesting to draw one, though. There are a variety of different textures, particularly when it's been cut for a day or two, like this one was. The outer skin was of course very thin, but the first layer of the onion had shriveled a bit and gotten wavy. And luckily, since the top wasn't freshly cut, I got through the drawing without crying!

The Sweater Post

This prompt sent me on a search to find some moderately interesting piece of clothing. You know, something with a texture that would be fun to draw. Otherwise, it would just look like a draped piece of fabric unless I wanted to draw it on the hanger, which ... well, would be boring. So I ended up with this sweater.

It was a little more than I bargained for. Definitely texturally interesting, but it turned out to be another one of those cases where I was done drawing the repetitive patterns before I was done with the drawing. But hey, that's what artfully leaving the edges unfinished is for.

Sentimental Hat?

Is there such a thing?

When I pulled this prompt out, I was a little confused about the idea of sentimental headgear. Unless maybe you wore braces in the '80s and had one of those contraptions that went around your head. Even then, "sentimental" implies fond feelings, and I don't think the folks who had that kind of headgear look back on it very nostalgically.

Anyway, I said all that to say that thanks to my Jeopardy experience, I had something to draw for this one. In addition to your prize money, they give you a Jeopardy baseball cap, another one of their cheap Jeopardy pens, and a super-cheap Jeopardy bag (you know, like the reusable ones from Whole Foods, except way less sturdy).  I've had this cap sitting on top of a foam head ever since I got back. I was thinking about giving it to my son but I doubt he'd wear it. I know I'll never wear it.

I guess that's why I have a foam head.

Yes, We Have No Bananas

So normally, we actually wouldn't have any bananas. Neither Morgan nor I particularly likes them. I'd say we both actively dislike them, in fact. So why are they here?

Because we recently got a blender. We've talked about wanting one in the past, but we finally decided to get one so we (well, Morgan) could make some delicious and nutritious smoothies. In addition to just being able to have a nice cool treat on a hot day, it's a good way to eat more servings of  fruits and vegetables. By extension, it's a good way to eat some fruits and vegetables that we don't normally eat. 

He's put banana in a couple of different ones so far - mostly the standard tropical fruit-type ones so far. Another one not involving bananas, but also good, was a berry blend that included a carrot as well. It was a nice blend even if it sounds a little weird. I think he's planning to throw a beet into one like that in the future as well. 

Best Foot Forward

I've been doing great with the daily drawing - daily posting, not so much. I'm often surprised to realize I didn't post the day before. Yesterday is another one of those days.

I figured this prompt would be as difficult as the "draw your hand" one. And feet are often as tough to draw as hands are, for the same reason: we think we know what they look like, so we don't observe them closely enough.

I'm actually really pleased with this one, though. It looks like my foot - long toes, the second one that presumably must have been broken at some point? I have no idea; it's been crooked as far back as I can remember. If it was indeed broken, it's the only bone in my body that has been. Anyway, I'm happy with this one.

Drawing Life

I'm not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination. I am a serial plant-killer. A while back, though, Morgan convinced me he would help me keep a succulent alive. When that worked, we went back and got a couple more. I'm happy to say they're all still doing well.  For this prompt, I figured I would immortalize one of our successes. I have no idea what the name of the plant is, but it's been growing pretty well since we brought it home; it shares a pot with one of those living stones plants (lithops).

I think this is one of my personal favorites of the drawings I've done this month. I observed it closely and drew it in detail, but unlike many objects I've drawn, I didn't get bored with drawing it. Maybe because the leaves are well-defined, and there aren't that many of them. Anyway, it was actually fun to draw and I think it's also a successful drawing. I may come back to this plant to do a real drawing sometime in the future.