“I can’t draw” how often have I heard myself utter those words to be told “of course you can”. Did people not know how hard it is. I’d see beautiful art works in watercolour, oils or acrylic – I simply couldn’t hope to replicate anything like that, I didn’t even know what some of the paint terms mean (I still don’t) – oil pastel, graphite, gouache…. you’re simply born knowing this stuff aren’t you?
5 years ago I had simply no control over a pencil, I’ve been told many times I’m not artistic and no one has ever explained that in art you can just get on with it and experiment – you don’t have to get it right first time. I hadn’t even considered that underneath all this fear of art was the ability to stitch beautifully and that my love of photography had taught me everything I need to know about colour, composition, light, texture, pattern and form….
…and then I signed up to do an art degree. From the start we did some basic stuff, continuous line drawing, non dominant hand, using long sticks on the ground, all techniques designed to free up the artists in the room already committed to their techniques but it was a very scary world for me. My art took me in a different direction, a world of textile and stitch plus of course the fine silver jewelry I make. But I remained determined to improve my drawing ability (it is of course a learned skill not raw talent). I have failed at doing a drawing a day (degrees tend to take over your life) but it is my goal and it has made me sketch regularly. Somehow I’ve evolved a more illustrative style, I’m not sure why but I am pleased with my progress and would urge anyone who believes they can not draw to try the every day approach – just 5 minutes and just for fun, you’ll be so pleased with your progress.
I’m now putting these onto greetings cards – check them out in my online shop.
Words & Pictures – copyright Carolyn Trafford (2021)
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