I Can't Draw . . . . but if I practice I will be able to draw - so can you!

I use to say "I CAN'T draw" or "I even draw really bad stick people" and I had the drawings to prove it!  But I firmly believe that creativity and talent all start somewhere and if we have the desire, and we practice (a lot for some of us - me included) and keep practicing. . . then we develop talents we didn't have before!  OK so what about natural talent you ask?  Well, then I'd say that some people are naturally gifted and I don't have time to delve into that right now, but basically I put all gifts into one big God box!


So I've always wanted to paint.  The I discovered that to paint I'd most likely needed to draw or sketch.  I took one drawing class, oh somewhere around 1998 and found it challenging, but even I was amazed at what I could accomplish with a little instruction.  I look back at my classwork and for the life of me, I can't remember how I did some of those drawings.  But they look pretty darn amazing to me now.  Too bad I didn't continue to practice, because who knows I might be pretty darn good right about now!  Ah well.


Last week another opportunity to learn to draw came about by reading our local Alsea newsletter and reading that someone in our community was offering public art classes.  Every Saturday evening from 6-9 and for only $7 a class.  The fact that he and his wife had painted signs for local businesses gave me an idea of their expertise, but it wasn't until I googled him and checked out his web site  www.danandmaehitchcock.com/ (if you don't want to see nudes then don't click on "Dan's Art" but do check out the murals) that I saw what an amazing talent the had.  Actually it's he and his wife Mae's website and art.  His name is Dan Hitchcock and he's self taught!  I'm not sure about Mae, if she's self taught also.  Anyway, I couldn't wait for the first class.  So here's my class projects.  1st one is using a grid to transfer lines.  I liked the picture I picked out to use, but I think a face or a person's form would have been a bit easier.  With my picture I wanted to finish with paints or watercolor pencil, but I may do some of that later.

This second class sample of the first night we were suppose to draw a head form that was sitting in front of us on a table.  Mine looks ridiculous.  It looks like an alien to me!  This will not be finished!

OK, on to something I've been wanting to paint for some time.  My favorite coffee cup.  I call it my comfort cup because it's big and the colors really please me, every time I use it.  What I did was take a picture of it then change it to gray scale on Picassa.  After I printed it out, I remembered something from my last drawing class and I traced the cups lines with a graphite pencil.  Then I laid that drawing face down onto watercolor paper and burnished with an old spoon.  When I lifted that picture from the wc paper, there was a light pencil image of the cup.  Then I proceeded to go over the lines once again, then I used Staedtler watercolor pencils to color in the cup.  

After everything was colored in I used a fine tip brush and carefully went over the pencil and there I was Watercolor Painting!  It truly was just filling in the spaces and kinda like paint by number without the numbers.

After the painting was completed the last step for the cup was to go over the black lines one more time with a black pen.  I used a Precise V5 roller ball black pen.

It's not a perfect match by any means but it does give me the same visual satisfaction as the real cup.

Here's the completed painting.

The title was done with a Sharpie marker the exact same color as the inside of the cup.

And I can't tell you how happy this makes me.