Lent 2013 Drawing Practice Update

 Day 37 Drawing of Royal Gala apple © Karen Thiessen, 2013

A few weeks ago I shared my Lenten practice for 2013: to draw a three dimensional object every day (no drawing from photos or from my imagination). I did and I was surprised by both the process and the results. Above is my best drawing of the batch, a Royal Gala apple that I drew on day #37. It was my first attempt at using coloured pencils and I am pleased that it actually looks like an apple. For comparison, below is my drawing of a glue bottle on day #2. It's a timid outline, but I had to start somewhere.

Day 2 Drawing of glue bottle © Karen Thiessen, 2013

Each day I monitored my thoughts and feelings before, during, and after drawing and I recorded a few notes below the image. As I drew, memories of first year university drawing classes flashed before me. Day by day I learned to relax and enjoy the moment. On average, I drew about 17 minutes a day. Some days I simply did not want to draw, but I did anyway. Each day I found myself scouring the house for something different to draw.

 Day 32 Drawing of ear © Karen Thiessen, 2013

At first drawing ears was rather difficult. Ears are like a mobius strip of planes with few hard edges to define them, so they rely on a lot of shading. Above is my second attempt to draw ears. One lesson that I learned during my Lenten drawing practice was to slow down my eye and look closely. Sometimes this required that I do a quick drawing first before I settled down into a more detailed and accurate drawing.

 Day 44 Drawing of fig © Karen Thiessen, 2013

One day I treated myself to some fresh figs. Above is my first try at drawing on oatmeal paper using my watercolour pencils with a wash and a layer of Prismacolor pencils on top. It's an okay drawing, not necessarily great, but good enough.

Aside from one drawing in the sketchbook with oatmeal paper, I mostly drew in a 9" X 11" sketchbook that I abandoned years ago after I discovered my favourite 8" X 8" coilbound sketchbook format. Lent is done for 2013, but there are 33 pages left in the sketchbook, so I have resolved to continue a drawing practice at least until I've filled it. Once that is complete, I'll assess whether to continue.

By the way... as of today I've practiced yoga 815 days in a row since Lent 2011.