If many of you are suffering from cabin fever in below-freezing weather, why not pass some of your time with pencil and paper? Drawing can be very relaxing, if you can endure the first five or ten minutes of frustrations and keep working, you might be very pleased with your results.
Go ahead; pick one up and have fun!
While staying at my friends’ home, I gave a drawing lesson, and after a few warm-up exercises, we drew sea shells. I worked earlier in the day on a study to lllustrate the stages of the drawing. Sometimes a simple line drawing needs few details after the dark background is added.
1. Before drawing, really look at the subject. Then lightly draw the outline.
2. Study the direction of the lines. There is usually a lot of order in nature, and the lines of these shells radiate outward like the hands on a clock. OK, they curve a bit but one can see the orderly precision.
3. Sometimes a very sharp pencil is mandatory, and I sometimes stop to resharpen my pencil about every minute. You want the contrast between the edge of the shell and the dark background to be strong and dramatic. Precision prevents sloppy edges.
4. Patience! Slowly fill in the areas – one doesn’t need to draw an entire beach of sea shells! Just draw one, and hopefully you’ll be pleased with the results.
5. Come on; surely you can draw just one little bitty shell? With practice, you’ll learn to make all of your preliminary lines vanish, and all that’s left is a visual record of your day, with memories embedded into the artwork..
“Foliage – Mindo Memories” pencil– I recall sitting on the restaurant steps as I waited on friends to arrive. A little dog crept up from behind and nudged my ear. The owner, sitting quietly behind, suddenly chuckled as I stopped drawing and gave the little puppy some attention.
OK, everyone; surely you have an old sea shell lying around the house. Sharpen your pencil and find a sheet of paper. (2H or 4H will give you strong darks) Give yourself thirty minutes. You can do this! Ready? Set… GO!
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
Nice shell game.
ha.. now that would be fun… i’ll put that thought in the incubation chamber!
gorgeous, there were chocolates in belgium that looked exactly like these. yours look good enough to eat! 😉
hey, cindy! i did not think about those artfully-created chocolates, but you’re right. and now i’m hungry for chocolate!
I’ve had those before, and had forgotten about them. They were quite good, too!
I will give this a try.
Yay! I’ll look forward to a report, but it might be a few days before I can pull up new comments or posts. Z
I love to draw with pencil and have been doing it my whole life. I find it relaxing where I get lost in the drawing, tuning out anything around me. I rarely ever put my drawings on the net, but it is more my calling than is photography. Only my drawings and paintings are framed on my walls, not even one photograph. It is nice of you offering a lesson to your friend. You are very talented and I bet a good teacher.
Sista-Sista Z…Happy to see you recouping with pencil and eraser in hand! It’s a “feel better” kind of thing, no? Si!
R.
Something so soft and wonderful about your instruction and encouragement that’s unmatched. I love your shell drawings, precise, clean and beautiful – what you can do w/ a 2H and 4H is incredible. That is the tell tale of a real artist – love it Z! Glad to see you back at your first love ~
Reblogged this on Stone Soup with karensamenow and commented:
I loved this post from Zebra Designs & Destinations, and think we could all do these little exercises. It feels so good when you complete a little sketch, it doesn’t matter how good or bad it is. The more you do, the better you get!
So nice work, Z.
Didn’t think about the circumstances much, but I did end up spending a considerable amount of time painting this past week when it was too cold to ride and the roads were too iffy to get to the barn anyway.
You make it look so simple – and beautiful.
Love these shells Lisa, drawing meditation! Jack and I are back into the drawing mood again. We are inspired by a lovely lady that gives art lessons within biking distance of home (we still do not have a car!!!) Jack is so good, I am learning, practice makes sort of perfect…
Hope you are feeling much better by now.
I love this post : so beautiful, so simple (in appearance..).
I wish I dare drawing one day 😉
Dear Helene, you will definitely draw one day!
Love you! Lisa
Beautiful post Lisa! My younger son graduated from a prestigious art school some years ago with a BA in Illustration. he draws very well and also teaches well. My grand-daughter (child of my older son) is now the age that Bryan was when he first found his passion for art. She is also at a similar level of ability as Bryan was at her age (16.)
Yesterday, I had the rare pleasure of being with them both and watching Bryan tutor Brianna in art. They were each in their element and the bond between uncle and niece was palpable. Another common interest they share in shooting. they are both “crack” shots.
It’s wonderful to see the teacher side of you in a post. I’ll be passing this one along to Brianna. Bryan gave me a similar lesson about 10 years ago, so I think he’s got it. Blessings and love to you and the shells, Alia
Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the artistic side of your family. If we cannot pass along our gifts so that others can light their candles, well, we’re not very thoughtful people are we? It’s amazing what just a few hours of instruction will do for a beginner, and they’ll carry that with them forever and tap into it when necessary.
I’ve enjoyed your posts (and Tomas’s) but have been unable to comment/re: slow internet)
Ohhhh this is so neat, and I DO have shells…! 🙂
As soon as I catch up on reading the backlog of posts that I neglected when we were on the Rio San Juan, I am going to follow these simple directions and draw me a seashell. Of course, a talented artist can make everything look simple, like a talented athlete. But, I’m ready for a relaxing Sunday. Thanks, Lisa.
Lisa, you do make me smile! 🙂 I’d have to draw around them (yes, even the leaves) to get anywhere at all. But next time I have a little idle time I promise to give it a go. I’ll send you the results but please don’t hold your breath 🙂
Glad you’re not under the weather now!
hey; thanks for your feedback; i’m glad that the post gave you a smile. of course you can do this!!! even if you don’t like your drawing, take the time to shade around it, and it might surprise you…
i won’t hold my breath, as i might faint.. will see a specialist on thursday.. thanks so much for holding down your corner of the world with such positive spirit!
I’ve had a sundial shell on my desk since I broke my moon shell, which I picked up after reading Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “Gift From the Sea.” It’s looking cold and dreary — who knows? Once I get my blog comments caught up, the laundry done, and a new post readied, I may give this a try. We have at least three days of cold, rain, and maybe even sleet ahead, so there won’t be any work done on the docks!
sounds like a great opportunity to enjoy a timeout with pencil and paper.. you probably need the moisture, though sleet would not be my choice, but it’s better than ice.
we have barely had any rain.. very bad for the aquifers… i keep waiting for the shoe to drop…