Nature as Art

Nature amazes me! Endless possibilities of subjects for drawing are simply outside my window, in books and magazines, under the water, in a blade of grass or limb of a tree...

Today I was inspired by a faint background image from one of my art books that gave the impression of a jellyfish or live sanddollar. I immediately grabbed the corner of a large pad of paper I have handy to draw on and spilled my own impression of a jellyfish out on it with a sharpie. I put the picture away, then read in my 'Encaustic Art' book that I can use pastels when working in wax. I yanked my jellyfish picture out again and grabbed my Pan Pastels to give it a quick color up from my imagination. Here it is:

Notice the loosey goosey drawing of a giraffe in the background (from a National Geographic Traveler magazine) that was done by looking at the giraffe and drawing on the paper without looking at the paper while not lifting the pen at all. This is called blind contour drawing and was an exercise out of the book 'Drawing Lab'. It's a great way to warm up and it's fun to see the results!

I hear all the time people who say, "I can't draw!", or, "I'm not an artist. I could never do what you do." I used to say exactly the same thing (having been a computer geek all my life)!!! Here's my advice - EVERYBODY  CAN  DRAW  AND  MAKE  ART! The way to do it is simply to start by doodling the things you see in nature or around the house. Make your pictures loosey goosey and don't worry for a second if the outcome seems childish or doesn't "look good" to you. There are artists in this world today making big $ on artwork of a childish nature...it strikes a chord with people and reminds them of their limitless childhood imagination; there's something charming and heartfelt about child-like work.

Start today, and leave me a comment or send me a picture of what you do. TristinaElmes@yahoo.com. Happy drawing... :)

Tristina