The Daily Composition Revisited

Carriages at Eleven
Daily Composition - April 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
15cm x 23cm (6" x 9")

 The Daily Composition is an exercise from the Natural Way to Draw (see Daily Composition and A Year of Daily Compositions)

The exercise is a daily task and is a scribbled gesture study of a scene drawn from memory. The exercise can take up to 15 minutes, but most of mine take between 5 and 10 minutes.

Preparing Dinner
Daily Composition - April 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
15cm x 23cm (6" x 9")

At least half the drawings should be of something you’ve seen in the past 24 hours, but the other half can be inspired by events from longer ago.

Ideally, I draw scenes from the previous day that I’ve studied with the intention of using them for the exercise – this is how I get the most benefit.

If I draw an event from the more distant past, I enjoy finding out whether Elaine can identify it – especially if it’s an incident from before we met.

Elaine recognised the drawing at the top of the post without difficulty. It is from our honeymoon at a romantic spa in Saint Lucia (we were observers to the event - not participants). One evening a couple celebrated so enthusiastically the restaurant provided them with a wheelbarrow for their journey back to the hotel.

Felix Snoozing
Daily Composition - April 2013
Graphite Pencil on Paper
24cm x 19cm (9.5" x 7.5")

Today’s post had to be about daily compositions because last night I broke my longest uninterrupted sequence of daily compositions – 203 days.

Elaine and I were staying with Paul and Wendy (and their new dog Alfie). I just forgot to do a drawing.  It was an unexpected lapse because during the day we visited Kurt Jackson's inspiring exhibition at the Campden Gallery.