My drawing students get to hear me say this regularly: “You can be fast or you can be good; I get to be both.”
Now I am working on a drawing that is very very important to me, and I am choosing to be good, but S L O W.
What’s with all the pressure? This is a house I met once and immediately admired, belonging to my closest friend in the world at the time.
I began this commission pencil drawing in September.
I got this far and decided that it needs to fill the paper more, because I don’t want to just fill the bottom inch with gravel. So, I have erased the lower parts and will stretch the slate and brick walkway farther down the paper.
The shrubs are being placed willy-nilly as I see fit, because I am working from about 5 different photos, all taken at different times of the landscape development. As long as there are lavender shrubs with color at the end, my dear friend will be happy.
This is the absolute best I know how to do.
6 Comments
So beautiful!
Aw shucks, thanks, Elaine N! The house is so cute that it was a pleasure to draw it just to feel as if I was there. The previous owners of the house are tickled with the drawing. I turned it into notecards for them to use (with the caveat that they never waste any on writing to me).
I think it looks fabulous.
My second cousin reached out to me,(I hate that term, but it’s my cousins daughter so there you go). She asked me and other family members to draw a flower in pencil and send it to her. No other explanation. She said we would understand in a few months.
Immediately I thought of you, and the fact that pencil is one medium I have never mastered or tried.
I selected a poppy. A daisy seemed to ordinary. As I was drawing I remembered tips you “taught” on your blog… create lightness by introducing shadows, shade with lines, dots and hash marks, it was a bit challenging, but fun.
But no, I’m not sharing it with you! Ha ha ha
Thanks for the years of teaching from afar.
Anne, your cousin’s daughter is actually your first cousin once removed. Your children and she are second cousins. (You must be thrilled with this explanation —you are welcome!)
Did you send her the drawing yet? Because if not, you can turn the photo and the drawing upside down, and re-evaluate all the shapes to see if they are accurate. I will be so interested to see what she has planned with the drawings!
I hope you had a great birthday last week! I meant to email you b’day greetings, but then we were gone all day and I fell into the trap of only thinking about Big Queen ME-ME.
Your drawing is beautiful, Jana. What size is this?
Would your friend approve of adding a rocking chair in the left corner of the front porch? I know the railing would cover most of it up, but that is certainly where I would put a rocking chair if this were my house!
Marjie, I thought the same thing about rockers on that porch! But it is now a done deal, about to be packaged and mailed.
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