National Drawing Day

Happy National Drawing Day!

May 16 is National Drawing Day!  Besides sketches for our Urban Sketchers virtual meet ups, what have you been drawing?  Here’s what I’ve been doing:

Earlier this week I watched a Metropolitan Museum of Art Drop In Drawing session on composition and shapes, which focused on botanical drawings.  The idea was to build a drawing through simplified shapes that you then go back and refine.  For example, you sketch out ovals or oblongs for the petals of a flower, and then go back to draw in the specific shape of the petals.  I decided to try this technique on a gardenia blossom in a vase.  I drew a circle for the vase as well as simple ovals and rectangles for the petals.  Then I went back and drew more specific petal shapes.  Although not exactly an Urban Sketchers scene, I think these principles can be applied to sketches other than botanical drawings.

Something else we often practice drawing is hands.  This week I watched a drawing session sponsored by the Princeton Art Museum and the Arts Council of Princeton, featuring a lesson on drawing hands.  I drew my left hand holding a pencil.

Happy drawing on National Drawing Day and beyond!