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 – 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.

SketchingNow Foundations

Buy a Siren?
7 October 2017
Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 20.3cm (5.5" x 8.0")

I’ve completed Liz Steel's SketchingNow Foundation course for the second time. This post contains my favourite sketches from lessons 6 to 12.

You can find sketches from lessons 1 to 5 in the post:

• Welcome Back

And some sketches from the first time I took the course in these posts:

• April 2016 Sketches
• May 2016 Sketches
• June 2016 Sketches
• July 2016 Sketches
• August 2016 Sketches

The course contains 12 self-paced lessons - each of which explains a different concept and is made up of video demonstrations, downloadable content and exercises. An additional bonus of the course is you can learn a lot by watching how Liz uses her tools and materials.

I’ve enjoyed and benefited from the course. It has helped me to get back into the habit of drawing and painting. When I am short of inspiration, it is easy to just get on and do the exercises from a course or book. It removes the need to think about subjects or objectives.

The early lessons might be daunting for the complete beginner, but they cover a lot of the fundamentals. I would recommend a complete beginner follow the course twice in quick succession, but you may be better to start with a book like Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson before taking Liz’s course.

The sketch at the top of the post was drawn as an exercise in balancing line and colour (Lesson 8). The phone rang at a critical point in the painting, so I let it go to voicemail. The call was from Elaine and I could hear her leaving a message. I was focused on the painting, but in the back of my mind I am sure she said something about going to buy a siren. It was only when I played the message back I realised she was coming home via Cirencester.

Mum's Bag
17 September 2017
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

I drew Mum's Bag as an exercise in minimal setup (Lesson 6). Dad was keen to watch a sketch from beginning to end. It was strange to try and explain my thoughts as I went along.

Gloriously Sunny
8 October 2017
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 20.3cm (5.5" x 8.0")

This climbing plant was another exercise in balancing line and colour (Lesson 8).

Not a Bonsai
18 October 2017
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

Elaine and I spent a few days at Ragdale Hall spa at the end of October. I found a relatively quiet place to sketch in one of the public rooms - looking out into the gardens. This little evergreen tree looked like a bonsai tree surrounded by the fallen leaves of its neighbours. I drew it as an exercise in creating a focus (Lesson 10). Not sure I achieved that, but I gave more thought to composition than I normally do when sketching.

Ragdale Hall - Thermal Spa Pavilion
18 October 2017
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

I drew the spa pavilion from the same vantage point immediately after the previous sketch.

Painting Paraphernalia
6 November 2017
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

This last sketch is a small selection from my extensive brush and water pot collection. This was drawn as an exercise in working from a focus (Lesson 11).

I’ve continued straight into Liz’s course about Edges, but the weather isn’t conducive to painting outdoors and isn't providing many strong shadows, so I may postpone it until the spring.

Keys to Drawing - Chapter 8

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 8A
6 March 2014
Charcoal on Paper
39cm x 55cm (15.5" x 21.5")

Chapter 8 of Bert Dodson‘s Keys to Drawing is called Drawing and Imagination. It is the last chapter in the book and Bert picks up some of the topics he has touched on in previous chapters. The main theme is creativity and he offers suggestions on how you can kick-start your imagination.

The chapter does not have the same set of structured exercises as the other chapters. The project for chapter 8 is to explore a theme in six drawings. Bert says:

"Make lots of drawings over a period of time on a particular subject or a particular approach to a subject. Paradoxically, when you narrow your focus this way, you widen the potential for discovery."

He suggests six possible themes, but offers the option of creating your own. I’ve elected to draw 6 charcoal portraits of Elaine.

I’ve chosen to draw portraits of Elaine because of the challenge of drawing faces and because Dodson emphasises the importance of revealing something of your self in your drawings. I suspect that for many people a drawing of a loved one will be more intimate and revealing than a self-portrait.

The picture at the top of the post is the first drawing of the six. It took about four hours spread over four evenings. I am planning to draw the rest over the next six months and I will post them as they are finished.

Keys to Drawing – Chapter 7

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7F
60 Minutes
16 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
34cm x 28cm (13.5" x 11")

Chapter 7 of Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson is called Pattern and Design. It is about the skills of composing a picture rather than drawing techniques.

The central theme is to consider a drawing as a collection of abstract shapes to be organised on the paper rather than focusing on the objects they represent.

Dodson says

Sketching is concerned with things. Design or composition is concerned with the relationships between things.

There is some overlap between the material in this chapter and the material in Composition by Arthur Wesley Dow.

The first part of the chapter is about identifying shapes and patterns. Dodson then goes on to discuss good composition.

There are 6 exercises

7A - Simplified Landscapes. The first exercise is to draw three simplified landscapes in which all the shapes are either black or white. The purpose of this and the following exercises is to start thinking in terms of shapes.

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7A
10 Minutes
2 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
15cm x10cm (6" x 4")

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7A
10 Minutes
2 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
15cm x10cm (6" x 4")

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7A
10 Minutes
2 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
10cm x15cm (4" x 6")

7B - Simplified Portraits. This is similar to the previous exercise, but with faces instead of places. The idea is to trace over three photographs and to simplify the features into black and white shapes.

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7B
10 Minutes
3 February 2014
Ink on Tracing Paper
13cm x19cm (5" x 7.5")

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7B
10 Minutes
3 February 2014
Ink on Tracing Paper
17cm x13cm (6.75" x 5")

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7B
10 Minutes
3 February 2014
Ink on Tracing Paper
15cm x19cm (6" x 9.5")

7C - A Pattern in Reverse. The concept for this exercise is to depict a subject by drawing what can be seen in the gaps while leaving the main shape empty. I misread the instructions and did not realise this was supposed to be another exercise in pure black and white. Additionally, I should have removed the outline around the scissors.

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7C
60 Minutes
5 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
23cm x 32cm (9" x 12.5")

7D - Compositional Studies. This exercise explores four different compositions for a still-life containing two objects. These are pictures of my office desk with Salty the Seadog by Joanne Cooke and a pot of pens.

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7D - Landscape
10 Minutes
11 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
15cm x 10cm (6" x 4")

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7D - Portait
10 Minutes
11 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
10cm x 15cm (4" x 6")

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7D - Close Up
10 Minutes
11 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
10cm x 15cm (4" x 6")

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7D - Long Shot
10 Minutes
11 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
10cm x 15cm (4" x 6")

7E - Clarity and Ambiguity. The aim of this exercise is to create a picture in which a complex subject is not immediately recognizable. I intentionally chose a difficult subject, but fell into the trap of messing up the perspective. I used most of the exercise time trying to correct the underlying structure instead of concentrating on the balance between clarity and ambiguity.

Keys to Drawing - Exercise 7E
80 Minutes
16 February 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
28cm x 23cm (11" x 9")

7F - Balancing Extreme Compositions. This challenge of this exercise is to go against convention and to create a composition in which the focal point is either in the centre of the page or close to the edge.

These exercisers are challenging, but rewarding. I gained a lot more from them this time than when I first tried them in 2009. I will definitely repeat them in the near future.