I Spy With My Little Eye...

OK, I'll admit it - I'm naughty.

It's not even a week out and I've already managed to find myself distracted from drawing flowers. 

Yes, I know what I said in my earlier posts.  I'm already putting myself in the naughty corner!

I *do* have a good excuse though - today's transgression was because I was exploring a new artistic medium for the first time and I was in art class being guided by my teacher (rather than working from home by myself).  *And* my teacher, Ms Cathy, thought that a bit of life-drawing would be good for me.  (Kinda like medicine, I wondered?)

As you can hopefully see, my latest artistic exploration was drawing, using lead/graphite pencils.

 

Yes, I will admit, I did feel in the first instance that perhaps using lead pencils after painting and pastels would amount to a backward step in terms of excitement and product.  (If I may use a musical analogy for a moment, I think I perceived using pencils as kind of the equivalent of having to practice endless scales on your instrument in order to improve your technical ability and proficiency.  Effective, but so, so, so, boring!) 

It wasn't true. What I learnt at my art lesson is that you may not have endless colour options, but goodness, you certainly can create depth and movement and detail second to none! 

In retrospect, I think I felt that way because I'd only ever drawn using HB pencils. 

I enjoyed learning new skills and acquiring some knowledge - such as drawing with a soft (B) lead will  create a much darker colour on the paper than a hard (H) lead pencil.  Colour a H pencil over a B pencil and you can get some amazing effects - and no issues with your colour turning to mud (ahem).  Love it.  See, I do pay attention in class Ms Cathy! ;-)

Whilst today's drawings may seem rather 'exploratory', I'm hoping I've managed, perchance, to find and capture just a smidgen of the artistic potential that can be achieved through using this simple, yet interesting, artistic medium.  In fact, don't you think it would be rather eye-ronic if I didn't! 

Righto, no more getting sidetracked - back to the flowers!