Inspiring Notions to Draw and to Paint

      Picasso says he draws like other people bite their nails. Artist John Sloan said to never graduate from drawing when you start to paint. For myself, I love to go back through journal sketches and relive times drawing such as “while making Valentines with Hannah” or “during the Democratic debates.” John Berger said that drawing absorbs him and he forgets everything else in a way that doesn’t happen in any other activity. Last night I was drawing Easter bonnets on Zoomed friends using MarkUp in iPhoto. I could neither stop nor Erase, but i learned how.

      One must have a sketchbook, paper and pen or iPad with stylus always available.This happens when I am on vacation. It is more work when I am dreaming up a painting and struggling with ideas. The Zoom photo below is not art but was fun and has potential to surprise when one has time. I drew on my iPad with an iPad stylus and also a Meko Tech universal stylus  https://www.mekotech.com/ to make Easter bonnets for our church group. What else to do with all those Zoom candids.

     Looking at art, hoping to find an idea to express the Texas electric power fiasco, I found this expression of Heaven and Hell, but didn’t make much progress toward a painting. I usually sketch a painting while painting, not before, but I tried..    

      I sketched family from photos but I know that only-from-life is better. Yes, this is a month of incompletes, but I found some great inspiration looking at Cedric Morris’s flowers. His student Joan Warburton said Morris had such close contact with his subject and deep understanding of their design that he was able to paint flowers as if they were people, with a mood and personality. 

        I hope to go at flowers with more interest and intelligence; draw in general with Picasso’s yearning; do more sketching since it is important for painting; and enjoy the meditative breaks drawing provide

 

Cedric Morris

                  

“Drawing used to be a civilized thing to do, like reading and writing. It was taught in elementary schools. It was democratic. It was a boon to happiness.”  Michael Kimmelman