Drawing drills, drawing and drilling

Drawing drills

Why bother with drawing drills when I’ve been out of school for 6 months? Well, truth is the commitment to the craft requires drawing drills. 
And, since David and I are staying in Philadelphia 1 more year,  I’ve enlisted the help of one of my instructors, Stephen Early, to help me continue to refine and improve my skills.

Lately, drawing drills have included 2 minute and 5 minute figure drawings from my imagination. You can see the results of this type of practice in the image at the beginning of this post. It’s amazing to me that these simple drawings (don’t they look sooo simple?) can be so challenging. 

Challenges

What is challenging? For me the biggest challenge is being methodical, restrained and thoughtful about my mark making. In other words, the masters don’t put a single mark down in a drawing unless it’s intended to indicate some kind of significant characteristic of the person I am drawing. This requires discipline and concentration while the timer is ticking away the seconds for either 2 minutes or 5 minutes.

But as I gain proficiency in these quick ‘gesture’ drawings from my imagination, I reap so many benefits. Like what? Well, first I’m able to more easily correct my drawings and paintings from life. By practicing from my imagination, I learn, with total accuracy, where I need to place landmarks, musculature and subtle nuances of a given person.

Secondly, I am able to paint the initial stages of my next painting (called ‘grisaille’) in a fraction of the time it used to take me in school. Can I hear a “Wahooo!” Here’s an example of the latest painting I’m starting (with Steve Early’s block-in en grisaille to the right of mine).

Thirdly, I am cultivating a bad@$$ (in a good way, really!) attitude and heightened awareness of what it takes to get proficient at this work. One of my teacher’s actually said this (the practice of painting) is an entire lifestyle. I believe it now. Culturally, we only hear about the overnight sensations. But I can assure that most overnight sensations have been working for years and years on their craft when they are discovered.

Different kind of drilling

As I assess my ‘productivity’ and ‘commitment’ to drawing and painting, I can’t leave out the ‘drilling.’ “Wait you already talked about drilling, Julie!” Right? Wrong? I’m talking about the drilling that has been ongoing, incessant and occurring right outside my apartment window. You can see the work platform in the photograph here but that’s not even the half of it. There have been worker dudes drilling the mortar, brick and good grief who knows what else for the past 8 weeks, people!

So, I have worked through this horrible, incessant noise. At the beginning of each day, I have this (naive, ridiculous) thinking that I can meditate and just assign the word “thinking drilling” to the noise. But I confess by the time the light changes at 3 or 4 p.m., my mind is completely blotto. If you would like to experience a 15 second ‘shot’ of this noise, here it is. Enjoy?

Thankfully, the workers have moved on to a different section of our building. So today I heard very little drilling. Can I get a “Wahoooeeee!” I’ve decided that this drilling noise has taught me to appreciate the ‘semi-quiet’ of city living. I am soooooo grateful that this drilling seems to have come to an end.

And the other drilling? The drawing drilling? That continues…What do you do in your daily practice for “drilling?” Please do share!