A Lion and a Fish from Memory

 

Seen on our morning walk.

For a while, I had been practicing drawing from memory during life-drawing sessions by studying the model intently for half the pose duration and then covering up the screen while I drew. Since then I’ve been practicing in another way: Studying something with the intention of drawing it several hours later.

Shown here is an example that began on a morning walk. We spotted an inflatable lion in someone’s yard. I didn’t spend as much time looking at it as I should have. When I sketched it in my scribble journal that evening, I realized I had only a vague notion of its shape; the lion’s expression was mostly from my imagination because I couldn’t recall details with clarity (below).

12/3/20 Attempt 1 from memory: Not enough observation.

12/5/20 Attempt 2: Better, but still missing prominent details.

12/9/20 Sketched from direct observation.

A couple of days later, I looked at the lion again, this time by observing it more closely and at length (above). I must have spent a couple of minutes studying its details. I did so by describing characteristics to myself with words: “The red Santa hat with white brim and pom-pom is hanging to the right.” That evening I made a larger sketch than I had previously so that I could work on more details. Even with additional observation time, I didn’t get the shape of the lion’s face or mane – and I totally missed the fact that the mane was brown.

Several days later, I finally sketched the lion from direct observation (at left). (I didn’t color the mane brown, but that was a conscious choice – not because I didn’t observe it.)

Another example was the Seattle Fish Guys logo (below). Since it’s one of the primary places we have been getting takeout foods during the pandemic, I see the Fish Guys logo frequently – at the store, on packaging, on their website and on social media. I would recognize it even from a distance, and yet, when I tried to visualize it, the image was vague.

Seattle Fish Guys logo

12/30/20 Logo sketched from memory.

One day I had a long wait outside the store while my order was being prepared. Prominently displayed above their door, the logo was easy to study for several minutes. Again, I tried to help myself recall details by describing them with words in my mind: “The colors are blue and turquoise. The fish’s body is made of cursive letters spelling ‘fish.’ The fish is facing right. ‘Seattle’ is in block letters above the fish, and ‘Guys’ is below.” I recalled most of the general details when I drew the logo that evening, but I couldn’t recall if it was in a circle or an oval.

Like most things, drawing from memory should become easier and more accurate with regular practice. Let’s see if that’s true.

Shawna at the Speed of Light (and Shadow)

 

1/2/21 Shawna, 30-second poses (I loved the energy and rhythm expressed by these dance gestures!)

Shawna is one of my favorite life-drawing models. I have drawn her more often than any other model, so perhaps I’ve had more opportunities to learn her proportions and shape, but beyond that, she is surely one of the best. It’s certainly challenging enough to hold any pose for 20 minutes, but in my experience, the true skill of a life-drawing model is revealed by his or her short poses. Drawing 30 unique and expressive 30-second poses without a break is downright exhilarating! Whew – what a workout! And as training for “real” people in the urban landscape, there is no better practice short of doing the real thing. By the time I got to the five-minute poses, they felt too long!

30-second poses

30-second poses

30-second poses

30-second poses

Now that all life-drawing models have been forced to take their business outside of the art school studio and into their own homes, they can’t depend on a monitor to manage their lighting for the benefit of artists. I have drawn enough models on Zoom during the past year to realize that not many understand the importance of lighting. Shawna’s many years of experience have made her an expert at this sometimes subtle but critical part of successful life drawing.

1-min. poses

2-min. poses (My favorites of the session, the 2-minute poses were made next to a window that cast a lovely light.)

2-min. poses

2-min. poses

Creative and always motivated to give artists inspiring, varied poses and moods, Shawna put each set of poses in a different area of her home. At Saturday’s session on Zoom, she posed against a wall, in her bathroom, on a stairway, and next to a window (my favorite lighting that day). Based on prompts developed for improvisational acting, each set of poses expressed a theme, such as “New Year’s Eve party,” “attention getter” and “rainy afternoon.” As much actor as model, she is a joy to sketch. I only hope I am able to capture the expressive energy she puts into each pose.

3- and 2-minute poses

3-min. poses

3-min. poses

Technical notes: Typically I use wet media such as a brush pen for extremely short poses, but I thought I’d give something dry a try this time: Prismacolor Art Stix. Soft as crayons, they moved fast enough, and I kept the drawings small so I could keep up with Shawna’s 30-second pace (the pages shown are in a 7-by-10-inch Canson XL 98-pound Mix Media sketchbook). I had an easier time with Art Stix on poses of at least one minute, though. The Kuretake Brush Writer is still one of my favorites when I have to move as quickly as possible.

My daily hand drawings continue to teach me something every day, far beyond the form of my own hand. My primary material for those has been toned paper with drawing tools in a dark color and white. That simplicity has trained me to see forms in terms of shadow and light better than any other practice I’ve tried. I especially notice what I’ve learned during life-drawing sessions when I have to identify and capture the shadow and light immediately with no time for more than a few strokes.

5-min. pose

5-min. poses

Scribble Journal Update

 

11/14/20 Early pages include more white space.

A couple of months ago I started a trial daily “scribble journal.” In the past, I’ve tried various versions of a daily sketch journal sporadically, but I never sustained the habit for more than a few days. I think one big reason the habit didn’t stick was that the format was redundant of some other habit I already had. If I sketched something from observation in the journal, then how was that different from my “regular” daily-carry sketchbook? If I sketched something merely to record what I did that day, then it was redundant of the text-only log book I’ve kept for years. (The latter is a simple bulleted list of places and things I’ve sketched, books, movies and TV shows I’ve consumed, fitness or health achievements, natural or current events, major purchases, and new foods or beverages I’ve tried.) Those sketch journal attempts didn’t feel like they served a unique purpose.

After a successful sketch journal page created for the Sketchbook Techniques and Expressions class I was taking through Gage, I was encouraged to focus a daily sketch journal practice on sketching from memory and imagination rather than from observation. This would eliminate redundancy with my ongoing sketch practice.

The trial I began in November was to find out if I enjoyed the process enough to sustain it and whether it served a unique purpose. For the remainder of 2020, I continued with my usual log book, which confirmed that the two books recorded mostly redundant information. If the scribble journal were enjoyable and sustainable, however, it could replace the log book in 2021.

That’s where I am now: On Dec. 31, I completed the trial book (an amazing coincidence to have exactly the number of pages I needed to finish it on Dec. 31! How often does that happen?!). On Jan. 1, I stopped keeping my formerly text-only log book and replaced it with a fresh book for my daily scribble journal.

12/4/20 The blow-up Santa and reindeer was an attempt at drawing from memory something I saw during my morning walk.

Keeping my scribble journal has become more enjoyable over time while also being more challenging to keep than a written log book/journal. I’ve been a writer my whole life, professionally and on my own time. Although I won’t say writing is effortless, describing or explaining something with words is probably the one skill I have that is as close to “second nature” as any. But when it comes to describing something visually, that’s a skill I’ve been working on for less than a decade. Drawing from observation has become easier over time, yet it’s never without challenge. And now my scribble journal is pushing me to think more visually and describe things visually.

Bonus: It’s already more fun to look through the journal as reference, which is one of its purposes. The way all our pandemic days seem to blend together or repeat like an extended Ground Hog’s Day, I find myself using it to answer questions like, “Was it two weeks ago that we had that fantastic crab from Fish Guys? Or has it already been three weeks?” 

12/10/20 I'm filling up more of the page lately with both sketches and writing.

With more page space than the vertical inch or so of text space I used to devote to each day, I can write more commentary when I want to. When I compare the early pages to the later ones, I see that I’m filling in the page space more effectively with both words and sketches. The drawings are often nothing more than rudimentary stick figures and symbols made from imagination (or lack thereof). But sometimes they are conscious efforts to study something visual during the day and then draw from memory that evening (more on that process in an upcoming post). I enjoy making the crude, cartoon-like sketches with no attempt at shading or modeling in any way (which is something I practice regularly with nearly everything I sketch from life). I’m pushed to think about things in a different way than I’m used to.

Representing my yoga practice has been especially challenging and often humorous! I try to visualize what I look like while I’m doing a pose, but it’s not easy. I can study my instructor’s pose on the screen and try to draw from my memory of that, but I’m not nearly as flexible as she is, so my body doesn’t always form the same shapes!

12/28/20 When I sketch my own little red car, it's a symbol to myself that I made a sketch from inside my car.

Fresh Leuchtturm journal in optimistic yellow.

The materials I use for scribble journaling are intentionally simple: I don’t want to be stymied by having too many art supply choices or being annoyed by having inappropriate paper for the media. I also want to be able to finish a daily page in 15 or 20 minutes. That’s another important aspect that keeps a habit sustainable for me. With that little time commitment, I could maintain the habit even when I travel (thinking optimistically into 2021).

For the trial, I used a spiralbound Stillman & Birn Zeta that I happened to have available. Although I love the heavy paper and surface, I don’t need that level of paper quality for something I call a scribble journal. I also prefer a volume with more pages. Since using wet media wasn’t important to me for this purpose, I decided to use an A5-size, hardcover, unruled Leuchtturm 1917 journal, which was my favorite format for my log books. I like the familiar feel of the book, which reminds me that I haven’t stopped keeping a daily log; it has simply morphed into a more visual form. 

Simple materials close at hand.

So far, my favorite drawing and writing pen is a Uni Pin pen with a brush tip because I like the thick-and-thin line it produces for both. For spot color, I selected a limited number of Prismacolor pencils – only what would fit comfortably in one coffee mug. This limit keeps me away from the distraction of looking for just the right color. 

The mug as art supply holder is also practical: It compactly sits on the side table next to my recliner where I relax in the evening. If I had to go upstairs to my studio to keep this journal, I would be more likely to skip it or, if I did go upstairs, I might get distracted by other projects or art materials. I’ve set myself up for success, not failure.

Edited Jan. 2022: I published an update on my scribble journaling tactics and the tools I am using at the Well-Appointed Desk.

Repercussions

 

In the course of a week, I’ve learned of two more acquaintances who have tested positive for COVID-19. One is a young woman who has suffered only a loss of taste and smell as symptoms so far; she will probably recover without long-term consequences, but of course, it affects her ability to work. The other is a 10-year-old who likely caught it at school. Her parents now have the burden of keeping their entire family (including other younger children) quarantined. But what happens if the parents catch it from their infected child (it seems nearly impossible not to)? How would they care for their family then? It’s hard to imagine the many repercussions of even a single case, let alone the nearly 20 million in the U.S. during the past year. It’s still staggering to think about.

Trees on My Mind

1/29/21 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Trees have always been an important part of my urban sketching compositions. Although some sketchers treat them like background, I often seen them as equal partners to buildings or other prominent features of the urban landscape. Often I will include trees for scale and composition, but not always in detail. In any case, like cars, they are unavoidable, so I want to learn to sketch them well enough to be part of the story. 

The class I’m taking on drawing trees with graphite has made me more aware than ever of the trees in my neighborhood. I have been taking lots of photos during my walks so that they might be used as reference in upcoming classes. On this day, I took several photos of this tree, whose every limb had been cut away (probably to get them out of the way of the utility wires). Unlike the naturally tapered limbs we are learning to draw in class, this poor tree had nothing but abruptly ending stumps. Still, I could see the grace and beauty it must have had back in the day.   

Nuts on Zoom

 

12/29/20 Field Nuts

Field Nuts, a Facebook group of Field Notes aficionados, had a Zoom meetup a few days ago. Now that my social life consists entirely of interactions on Zoom, I’m getting used to drawing faces in a grid of boxes. I meant to include myself to show that I was there, but the page made a better grid if I omitted myself. You can tell that a pandemic has gone on too long when one makes design decisions based on the Zoom grid (which I still can’t sketch without thinking of The Brady Bunch).

Like a Dancer

 

12/28/20 Laurelhurst neighborhood

Only one excavator was working, but like a dancer or a bird, it kept cycling through three distinct positions as it moved dirt back and forth from a hole to a pile. I would draw a bit of one phase as quickly as possible, then begin the second, then the third. I could then add to each sketch as it moved back to each position repeatedly. It was the most fun I’ve had sketching on location in a while!

Incidentally, the Laurelhurst neighborhood is high up on a hill overlooking Lake Washington, which was just beyond the property where the excavator was working. On that beautiful sunny afternoon (the last before days of rain were forecast), some would have sketched the lake and Cascade Mountains above it. But the lake and mountains will still be there later; the excavator wouldn’t.

Happy 2021!