Random observations:

• The back cover of the book sent me to the online peer-reviewed journal, TRACEY (lboro.ac.uk) where I browsed some sketchbooks, amongst which was that of Susan Kemenyffy (January 2010). I am currently working on basic shapes and have been trying to make my lines clearer as I’m aware they can be a bit scrappy and overlapping; however, I was drawn to several images in her sketchbooks (e.g. the monument in sketchbook 4) which is drawn with very scrappy lines and yet has, to my eyes, great energy. I am going to keep going with my attempts to make my lines clearer, but will also continue to experiment with my existing default drawing style but try to infuse it with a similar energy.   

I have come to this course later in life than many; I have found this book supportive and inspiring on various levels: first, the determination of the author, expressed and demonstrated with considerable energy, that there is no reason why anyone could not draw at some point every day; second, the number of motivational quotes it contains, amongst which are:

• “It is never too late to be what you might have been” – George Eliot
• “Drawing…(makes you)…pay attention in a way you normally wouldn’t…Every line, page, brick, unit of the thing you draw becomes essential. You’re looking to catch each component in order to understand the construction of the object and therefore realise the beauty of its balance, the necessity of each small part.” – Patti Lynn Gregory **(this chimes with what I wrote yesterday about the observational skills of James Lewis – see notes on his demonstration)
• “I cannot tell you how happy I am to have taken up drawing again. I’ve been thinking of it, but I always considered the thing impossible and beyond my reach” – Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his brother
• “It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character” – Camille Pissarro
• “Ironically, our society tends to portray artists as dreamers. But those who suppress their creativity are actually the ones living in a dream. An artist is someone who sees and feels reality very intensely” – Danny Gregory

So, having been duly inspired, I am off to do some drawing in my sketchbook…