Courage to Draw

Sometimes I underestimate, or perhaps just forget the amount of courage it takes to pick up a pen and draw. Like most things in life the older I get the more self assurance it takes. As a child I loved to draw. I have sketch book after sketch book filled with my imaginings.

Somewhere along the road to adult hood I lost my courage. I gave into the, misguided, mis-conception that to be a great artist you must have a natural ability from birth to capture the world around you. Over the years I have found that this is not truth. Just as in any art you must first copy others to learn technique…slowly over time you will discover your own style and begin to create your own images. I wish, so much, that someone had told me this as a child. Then perhaps it would take less courage now to pick that pen back up.

I have instituted an organized drawing time for me and my children. I encourage them to draw what is in their heads and be confident of their art. I drew this feather during one of our organized drawing sessions. I saw a similar image and decided to try to recreate it.

Another thing I have discovered is that keeping a journal makes it easier to sketch, draw, doodle. Something about the mixture of internal images depicted as well as expressed in the written word. Or perhaps it is just the fact that the pen is more often in my hand.

As you can see, sometimes I simply copy tea labels. Hopefully the practice will begin to pay off. On a knitting note, I have been working on a ear-warmer with a smocking pattern to it.

Also I have been experimenting with my Silver Leaves. Thanks to my friend Allyson, I got the idea to make them into ornaments. They are only partially  completed I stamped numbers on them and because of the paint I have to go over the number with a sharpie. When they are finished I would love to have numbers 1-12 for the 12 days of Christmas.