I’ve been thinking A LOT about why I’m doing this drawing project and I’m going to subject you to these thoughts whether you like it or not. (I mean, you can skip this, obviously, but I’m apparently somehow working through something and I don’t even know what, so…) I mean, like, one reason is just that I like drawing more than knitting and I’m looking for things to keep me from doomscrolling. But that’s not really what it’s about. Some of it is that I used to be kind of…
I have – against all odds, IMHO – reached HOUR TWENTY on this project. One fifth of the way done! Perhaps I have a chance of seeing it through! Or not. 80 hours is still a Very Long Way To Go. I’ve been working my way through more basic shapes and shading, moving slowly into one-point perspective. Because I’m determined to do it the hard way, or…honestly, it’s more that I’m trying to LEARN things that I’ve only half-assedly learned in the past, but anyway. Point is, I’m kind of…
Those of you who follow me on Bluesky may have seen that I recently discovered Russian (which is to say, Crimean but it was a Russian territory at the time) painter Ivan Aivazovsky. I may never recover. I don’t think I’ve ever seen water done like he does it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt an artist loved water as much as I feel he must have. It’s so incredible I could vomit. This particular piece is held privately, which is a shame, but there’s a museum in Feodosiya, Ukraine…
I’m having a lot of thoughts about this art project thing, thoughts which are currently full of enthusiasm, vim, and vigor, because I’ve only done two days of it and am not yet bored with having to work on my fucking perspective again, which is an attitude I expect to smash up against Quite Soon. But. Like. It occurred to me to ask myself, last night, “What is it I want to get out of this project?” which you have to admit is probably a pretty good question. And the…
I’m having a stupidly good time doing this art class thing, probably because I haven’t started doing anything boring yet. I am, however, FULLY MAKING IT HARDER FOR MYSELF because, to paraphrase Bette Davis, “The hard way is the only way to do it.” So I did the opening challenge to draw a book on a table, a coffee cup, a doughnut & a house (using no references), and for some fricking reason I did 3/4ths of it as a frickin’ still life… …followed by drawing my house. Or part…