You Can Learn

Several days ago, I got together with a friend to hang out. At one point, she had to do a little work, so I kept myself amused by grabbing paper and a pen and sketching simple objects near me. I like that this is becoming a natural way to fill in those little pockets of time that come up. Knitting is my other go-to activity. Yes, I also pick up my phone and look at FB and look at Instagram more than I should.

When she was done with her work stuff, our conversation turned to drawing and her comment was along the lines of either she can't draw or she couldn't learn to draw. I hope that I wasn't too obnoxious or preachy in my reply, which mostly was that anyone can learn to draw.  You just need to try and you need to practice. If you keep at it, you will improve. If someone is not interested in learning to draw or paint, that's fine by me. What's sad is seeing people psych themselves out before they even try. If I can learn to draw, anyone can.

I went to an open studio night at Kat's last night and met a woman who teaches music. We talked about the oddness that people understand that they aren't going to sit down at a piano and just start playing, but somehow that same level of logic doesn't carry over to drawing.  She also mentioned several recent music students. The first one had natural talent, but did not practice.  The second one lacked natural talent, but practiced regularly. After a certain period of time, the second person's skill surpassed the first person's.

Enough preaching.

I haven't been painting much recently. That changed, yesterday. I got together with a different friend and we painted at my house and later went to Kat's studio. I am rusty. It shows. I will keep practicing.

I had a lot of trouble with the eyes.  At some point, I gave up.

I would like to play with adding color to some of my sketches using watercolor and a water brush. Right before we had dinner, I did a quick sketch and painting of the parrot that I keep painting. I have no clue about what I'm doing with watercolor, but it's fun, anyway. 

I worked on this at Kat's. Overall, blah, although I do like the eyes.