Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Mirror Imaging

Enjoying the Weather
Ink and Watercolour on Paper
23cm x 29.5cm (9" x 11.5")

Exercise 12 from Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson involves making a drawing of an interestingly shaped object and then drawing its mirror image aligned so the 2 images are touching to make a single symmetrical shape. The mind can read patterns and interpretations into the new shape. In Bert’s example, a crumpled shirt becomes two desert nomads in conversation.

I made a drawing of a miniature dog sculpture by Joanne Cooke. I call the sculpture Salty the Sea Dog. It is about 9cm high and sits on my computer desk. Weirdly, it looks a lot like Doris with her summer haircut.

Salty the Sea Dog
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

I couldn’t find an inspiring way to create a reflected shape. I suspect the exercise works better with less recognisable objects such as crumpled clothing. This gives the imagination more room to interpret an abstract shape – instead of immediately identifying two adjoining images of the same dog -and then moving on to something more interesting.

I abandoned the instructions for the exercise and drew Salty sitting in a puddle – which is a pastime Doris enjoys.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Macro Drawing

Walnuts Are Brain Food
Macro Drawing
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Graphite Pencil on Paper
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 20.3cm (5.5" x 8.0")

The objective of Exercise 11 from Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is to make an enlarged image of a small object or creature using a good magnifying glass. Bert observes:

Enlarging an object transforms it. It reveals a level of structure and detail that is otherwise invisible to us.

This was a challenge because my magnifying glass is not good. It provides a small distorted field of view with minimal magnification – frankly, I would be better off squinting at the subject. I am also struggling to get back into the swing of modelling with pencil (see Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Creating Destruction). I’m persevering because this is a core skill I want to cultivate.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Creating Destruction

Brown Bag Lunch
Creating Destruction
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Graphite Pencil on Paper
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 20.3cm (5.5" x 8.0")

Exercise 9 of Keys to Drawing with Imagination is about drawing things that are crumpled, dented or crushed. Bert observes there is something aesthetically pleasing about the partially destroyed.

This is my third go at drawing a crumpled bag. I seem to have forgotten everything I knew about drawing and rendering shadow shapes. I will persevere with this sort of drawing with pencil and pen over the next few weeks. I need to get back into the practice of first analysing and outlining the shadow pattern and then becoming absorbed in rendering it.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Adding On

View from the Office on Christmas Morning
January 2019
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

Chapter 2 of Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is called Drawing A New Reality. It establishes a link between observation and imagination. Bert suggests drawing from direct observation as a springboard to spin-off into imaginative drawing.

Adding On is the first exercise in the chapter. The instructions are to make line drawings of 3 unrelated objects at different times and in different places. Position the first object in the foreground and the other objects behind it - overlapped by it and without regard to scale.

I drew this sketch over 3 days. On the first day, I drew a roof from my office window. On the second and third day I added the snowman decoration and Christmas tree bauble.

Painting is probably not strictly within the rules of the exercise, but this was my plan from when I included the snowman.

View from the Office on Christmas Morning
Adding On
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

Time for drawing and painting is going to be precious while Doris (our new puppy) is young. I've set a challenge to draw (or do some other hands-on creative activity) for at least 15 minutes each day in 2019. So far, I've been focused and made good use of the time. I've probably got more done than I would have without Doris and the 15-minute challenge, but I have been finding more than the 15 minutes during the holidays. Back to work tomorrow.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Combining

Water
Combining
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
29.7cm x 21cm (11.7" x 8.3") 

The instruction for Exercise 7 of Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is to combine two previous doodles.

The previous section concerned letter-forms, but didn’t have an exercise. I took the opportunity to mess around with some balloon letters and to combine them with the fish motif – which is a recurring theme in my doodles for these exercises.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Multiplying

Too Cool (for the School)
Multiplying
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
29.7cm x 21cm (11.7" x 8.3") 

The sixth exercise from Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson involves Multiplying a previous doodle.

The first assignment is to arrange multiple copies of a doodle in a radial or otherwise symmetrical pattern

The second assignment is a mirror image drawing. Draw a doodle and then duplicate it upside down, beneath and touching the first drawing.

Alasses
Multiplying
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
14.9cm x 10.5cm (5.9" x 4.2")

My response to the first assignment is based on the skull from the Building Blocks exercise.

The drawing at the top of the post is a variation on the second exercise. I drew a few mirror image doodles, but the results didn’t thrill me. The picture at the top is a modification of a Silhouetting  exercise – I’ve used a more symmetrical pattern and less variety in the fish motif.

I'm thinking of using a pattern like this as the basis for a linocut print.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Shading

Coastal Path Trees - Six Years Ago
Shading
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Exercise 5 from Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is about shading. The instructions are to copy or trace some doodles from the Building Blocks exercise (see Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Building Blocks), then to add light, shade and cast shadows. I started from scratch because my doodles from the previous exercise didn't seem very suitable.

Interestine
Shading
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

I’ve never been a great fan of crosshatching, so I used this opportunity to embrace it by trying to emulate some artists whose crosshatching I enjoy. In the drawing at the top of the post, I tried to channel the style of Ian Sidaway (Ian Sidaway Fine Line and Ian Sidaway Studio). These trees have appeared before when I painted them from the same photo 6 years ago (see Fast and Loose).

Tommy Kane's Lemon
Shading
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
29.7cm x 21cm (11.7" x 8.3")

The sketch of the lemon is based on a video by Tommy Kane - Tommy Kane on How to KrossHatch. While I was drawing it, I realised I’m not getting on with my new fountain pen as well as I would like -  Elaine gave it to me last Christmas. My old pen happily glides across the paper applying ink evenly, but this new one is scratchy and doesn't deliver the ink smoothly. This might be because of the different ink I use in it, but I think it is because the nib is not properly worn in. I’m trying to remedy this by pressing down too hard when I use it - which will hopefully speed up the wearing in process.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Silhouetting

Kiss Me Quick
Silhouetting
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Exercise four in Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is another 2 parter. Both assignments start by drawing a cluster of shapes. In the first exercise you keep a uniform(ish) distance between the shapes and fill them in with black. In the second exercise you make all the shapes touch in at least one place and then fill in around them.

Gone Fishing
Silhouetting
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Both designs remind me of souvenir tea towels from seaside towns.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Building Blocks

Alas
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

The third exercise in Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is about Building Blocks. The first assignment is to create doodles using marker dots, stubble (short dashes) and stipple (dots). The second is to draw improbable structures made of bricks, stones or blocks.

Eiffel Tower
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

I wasn’t enthusiastic about my drawings, but they led to a deeper understanding that doodling can mean different things at different times. Sometimes it’s a diversion, sometimes it’s focused more on experimentation than results, and sometimes the same techniques can be used in a more controlled way to refine a doodle into art.

L'Elephant
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

Peter Draws creates excellent doodle art and has an entertaining on-line presence. Shortly after finishing these exercises I watched one of his videos - Dots for Days ... Intricate Stippling Art - which includes the advice:

Don’t do stippling if you are in a hurry. Place each dot as its own little dot, intentionally, slowly. It’s its own thing. Its own little drawing.

Since this revelation I’ve been creating much more satisfying doodles. I’ve a bit of a backlog to post over the next few weeks. Work continues to eat into my art time and this blog is suffering as a result.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Doodling Algorithms

Atomium
Doodling Algorithms
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

In Keys to Drawing with Imagination, Bert Dodson introduces the idea of Doodling Algorithms – take a simple rule or motif and repeat it multiple times with slight variations to fill a page.

Bert presents different types of doodle: geometrical patterns, waves, tangles and shape clusters. The second exercise in the book is to pick one of the categories (I chose tangle) and draw a series of doodles using the algorithm.

Pipework
Doodling Algorithms
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Most of my tangles came out looking like puzzles – Find your way through the maze. How many loops? Which shot was fired first?

Who Shot First?
Doodling Algorithms
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

The Atomium doodle is based on a doodle I used to draw during maths lessons - to aid my concentration, obviously.

Paper Loop?
Doodling Algorithms
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

I'm enjoying working through Bert’s book. Currently, I don’t have much time for drawing and painting, but it is pretty easy to find time for a bit of doodling and it is helping to improve my hand control and sense for composition/design.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination - Take a Line on a Walk

Groovy
Take a Line on a Walk
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson has the subtitle “strategies and exercises for gaining confidence and enhancing your creativity”.

I am reading the book and working through the exercises because I enjoyed Bert’s  Keys to Drawing (see earlier posts on Keys to Drawing) and I am hoping the book delivers on its subtitle. It is part of the plan to increase the confidence and variety in my mark making and to incorporate more emotion and spontaneity into my drawings.

Marquetry
Take a Line on a Walk
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

The first chapter is about Doodling and Noodling:

• Doodling is … doodling – “A drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines, generally without ever lifting the drawing device from the paper, in which case it is usually called a scribble”. Thank you Wikipedia.
• Noodling is the process of decorating a doodle in a deliberate and controlled way. Bert talks about noodling processes – such as covering the doodle with dots or pinwheel patterns.

Apron
Take a Line on a Walk
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

Bert differentiates between the two activities:

Doodling is typically free, loose, spontaneous, vigorous and fragmentary. The noodling stage is often controlled, patient, mechanical, repetitive and complete.

Concentric Lines
Take a Line on a Walk
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

The first exercise is Take A Line on a Walk. You begin with a large doodle. Letting your pen go in any direction it wants, but making sure it ends up back where it started, so you create an enclosed shape. You then decorate the doodle with a noodling operation.

Territories
Take a Line on a Walk
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

The exercise was more fun than I anticipated - time consuming, repetitive noodling isn’t really me, but I quite enjoyed it. Some of the results surprise me – if I hadn’t drawn them, I wouldn’t guess they started out by taking a line for a walk.

Nachos
Take a Line on a Walk
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper
21cm x 29.7cm (8.3" x 11.7")

I made a mistake in the pattern in almost every one of the drawings, but that is one of the joys of working in ink – you just have to smile (or sigh) and live with it.

February 2018 Sketches

Stained Glass Puffin
28 February 2018
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

February was not a productive month for sketching. These are the scant highlights.

The puffin was a birthday/housewarming present from Elaine in June of last year. It's taken me a while to get around to painting it. I'm not sure why because I enjoyed the experience. Perhaps it's because the apparent simplicity is a challenge - simple objects can highlight our mistakes.

Tulips and Hyacinths
12 February 2018
Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 20.3cm (5.5" x 8.0")

It's wonderful to have spring flowers in the house. Even if it's too cold for them to thrive outdoors - perhaps because of this. There is a lot of watercolour pencil in this sketch. I never used to be a fan of watercolour pencils, but I am coming to love them. They are a versatile tool  because you can use them for the initial setup drawing and then for quickly adding colour and texture.

Pears
15 February 2018
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

The pears were an experiment in trying to build up the modelling of their form in a single watercolour wash. This is a technique I will work on again in March.

Be Mine
Watercolour and Ink On Paper
10cm x 10cm (4" x 4")

The last picture is not really a sketch. It is my Valentine's Day card to Elaine. It is based on a pattern I've been experimenting with in exercise 1 of Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson. This is one of the things that has being distracting me from sketching. I will write more about it later in the month.