Part 4 ➤ Developing Drawing Skills 170 Shoes Even if you’re not Imelda Marcos, you’ve probably got more than one pair of shoes. Lisa is not a shoe maven, but her closet reveals riding boots, hiking boots, two pairs of heels (both from the ‘70s), sandals, and loafers. If you’ve got a pair of riding boots, try leaning them against the leg of a chair, and then drawing them. Or put the sandals on a throw rug and throw in the towel, too. What you draw is limited only by your imagination. Even your shoes can make a pleasing arrangement. Hats and Gloves Picture a pair of elbow-length gloves draped across the brim of a wide-brimmed hat, and you’ve got the makings of a lovely drawing. But even if your gloves and hat are less elegant, they’re still a good start for an interesting arrangement. Let’s say the only hat you can find is a ski cap. Do you have ski gloves, too? No gloves at all? Why not brew up a steaming cup of cocoa? Draw it and it will warm you up on the coldest of winter days. Get the idea? Set your hat and a bas- ket on a table and draw them. 171 Chapter 14 ➤ All Around the House: A Few New Drawings to Try Drawing in the Living Room Let’s try another room. How about your living room? Is this a for- mal place, reserved only for company? Or do you have a “great room” where your entire family gathers at the end of the day? If it’s the latter, chances are you’ll find everything from open books to unopened mail, from television remote controls to Gameboys. Anything in your living or great room is fair game, including your spouse snoring in his or her favorite chair. But even if that chair is unoccupied, it may be just the thing. Try Another Chair The first chair you drew was a fairly simple one, so this time, try drawing a chair that’s a bit more elaborate. You’re in the living room, so you’ve probably got a number of choices—from a well- worn recliner to an antique rocker or even, perhaps, a Victorian settee or fainting couch. Take a look at the different textures of wood or fabric. What pleases you most? Back to the Drawing Board When it comes to drawing a chair, you may decide to return to your plastic picture plane to get the angles just right. If so, that’s fine. Remember, artists use aids like plastic picture planes and view finder frames all the time, so there’s no reason you should feel like you’re cheating if you do, too. Chairs make simple and convenient drawing subjects. Antique Lamps—and Antique Things Lisa’s husband teases that she will never have enough antique lamps, and, while Lisa dis- agrees and insists that she bought the last one this past weekend, finding antique lamps to draw will not be a problem if you’re at Lisa’s house. Antiques—whether lamps, tables, or even Underwood typewriters—are terrific drawing sub- jects for a number of reasons. They’re unusual (you won’t find them at every Wal-Mart), they’re attractive, and they usually have enough visual interest to carry off a drawing all by themselves, without adding a thing. Lamps, candles, and the warm glow they give off, pro- vide interesting challenges to the careful observer. Part 4 ➤ Developing Drawing Skills 172 Objects That Reflect You We all collect something, it seems, something that we just can’t resist in a shop, or some- thing that we find on a trip, or something we found in nature, and then all of a sudden there are more of the same, and a collection is in the making. These are the things that per- sonal drawings are made of. Lauren has been a collector since childhood, when she filled her dresser drawers with shells, rocks, pinecones, and a collection of hundreds of wildflowers pressed in waxed paper. (Clothing was less important then.) Now she has a large studio to house all her collections, which are her favorite things to draw. Use the things that you love in your drawings to give them a truly personal quality. Bathroom Basics After all that coffee you had in the kitchen, you’ve probably visited the bathroom once or twice already since you began this chapter; let’s head there now once again and see what you can find to draw here. Even this most utilitarian of rooms will surprise you with its potential drawing subjects. Light up a drawing by including an antique lamp or candlesticks. The Art of Drawing Try for unusual mixes, things that might not typically be put together. The arrangement may re- ally surprise you. Consider humor or at least whimsy as you look for things and arrangements. The world is too serious, so have some fun as you draw. 173 Chapter 14 ➤ All Around the House: A Few New Drawings to Try What’s on your bathroom counter? Half-empty bottles of lotion, empty cans of mousse, open mascara tubes, and broken lipsticks … or a pretty arrangement of seashells in a basket? A razor, nail clipper, dirty towel, and soap scum? Whichever way, there’s something there for you to draw. Sure, the seashells in the basket will make for a more visually pleas- ing drawing, but the detritus will make for an unusual one that may be visually striking in its own right. Pretty is as pretty does, after all, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Don’t toss those empty bottles—draw them in- stead! Or draw those seashells in their basket. Any arrangement in your bathroom can be the makings for a drawing. A Sunny Window Find a room that has a sunny window. Does the sun pour through in the early morning or just before sunset? Maybe it gets filtered northern light, a favorite of artists, or dappled light filtered through the leaves of a tall old tree. What’s on your windowsill? An arrangement of colored bottles can be the basis of a simple but lovely line drawing—without one color pencil being used. If your window is framed by sweeping sheer curtains that flutter in the breeze, another nice drawing subject is at your fingertips. Two lovely window arrangements to draw (see next page). Part 4 ➤ Developing Drawing Skills 174 By now, it should be clear that the possibilities for drawing subjects in your home are limit- ed only by your imagination. So grab your pencil and paper, and get to work! Out of the House and onto the Patio (Door) While your materials and subjects can vary endlessly, the process is essentially the same every single time you begin a new drawing. The minor variations are your needs at the time and your choices as to how to proceed, what medium to use, or how finished a piece you are trying for. Remember, for fun or for help, use your patio or sliding glass door as a big plastic picture plane. Put a few objects on a table right outside the door and try to draw them on the glass. Use a dry-erase pen that makes a readable line. You can draw your patio or deck chairs on the glass, or maybe some potted plants or a trellis planted with a vine. You will find that objects need to be very close to the door, or they will be very small when you draw them on the glass. If the light outside is strong enough, you can make a tracing of your drawing on lightweight paper, using the door as a big light box. In an urban landscape, use your apartment window or glass terrace door; draw the buildings you see, complete with their windows, terraces, and fire escapes. Where the finish point is will always be your choice. You are done when you are done. Back to the Drawing Board Dry-erase pens are pens de- signed to mark on smooth sur- faces and wipe off easily. Delis use them for writing the day’s specials. Look for them in an art or stationery store. 175 Chapter 14 ➤ All Around the House: A Few New Drawings to Try Once you begin to look at the things in your house as objects to be drawn, you’ll find the possibilities limited by only your imagination. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Nothing’s a mistake when it comes to drawing; everything’s a learning experience. So grab that cof- feepot and your pencil and get to work! Your home truly is your castle when it comes to drawing subjects. Part 4 ➤ Developing Drawing Skills Your Sketchbook Page Try your hand at practicing the exercises you’ve learned in this chapter. 177 Chapter 14 ➤ All Around the House: A Few New Drawings to Try The Least You Need to Know ➤ Anything in your house can be a subject for a drawing. ➤ Exploring your house for things to draw can be a journey of discovery as well. ➤ Distractions are not allowed! ➤ Make a date with yourself. ➤ Take your time—and have fun! Chapter 15 Into the Garden with Pencils, not Shovels In This Chapter ➤ The pleasures of drawing in a garden ➤ Botanical drawing as science and art ➤ Explore the natural world outside your garden When I spoke of flowers, I was a flower, with all the prerogatives of flowers, especially the right to come alive in the Spring. —William Carlos Williams Enough time spent wandering around your house—it’s time to get outdoors and see what else there is to draw. Not surprisingly, there’s a wealth of material just outside your door. Go ahead, open it up, and step into the wonderland of drawing subjects that is your garden. In the beginning, there was Eden, that most famous of gardens. Sure, Adam and Eve were banished, but we’ve been working our way back ever since. With a sketchbook in hand, you can succeed where Adam and Eve failed (and even get that troublesome snake nailed down in an illustration) by drawing a garden that will last and last. Botanical Drawing Is an Art A flower offers a removed beauty, more abstract than it can be in the human being, even more exquisite. —Maria Oakey Dewing, “Flowers Painters,” Art & Progress 6, No.8 (June 1915). The first step in drawing anything in nature is learning to see it and draw its parts, such as the separate parts of flowers, with the same attention you’ve learned to give to all details. From petals and stamens to leaves and stems, every part of a flower has a wealth of detail, there for the seeing. . pleases you most? Back to the Drawing Board When it comes to drawing a chair, you may decide to return to your plastic picture plane to get the angles just right. If so, that’s fine. Remember,. Few New Drawings to Try Once you begin to look at the things in your house as objects to be drawn, you’ll find the possibilities limited by only your imagination. Don’t be afraid to experiment nature is learning to see it and draw its parts, such as the separate parts of flowers, with the same attention you’ve learned to give to all details. From petals and stamens to leaves and stems,