Showing Off

Rummaging through a tattered and dusty cardboard box of books for sale outside a used bookstore, I came upon a well-used book called Learn to Draw in a Weekend. Quite a boast, I thought. I’ve always envied those with a skill for drawing, always wishing I could snatch up a pencil and dash off a sketch of the man on a bench, or the puppy chewing a shoe. Even a credible drawing of a bowl of apples would make me happy. Years too late, but I bought the dog-eared copy of Learning to Draw in a Weekend.

I think the assumption of the book is that your weekend of learning to draw must revolve around non-stop practice from morning to night, forsaking all else. Even then, it’s highly improbable that anyone but a born Wyeth would come near the promised goal in two days time. But only the very naive need to be told that fact, and I had no notion of one day or one month in learning the basics of drawing.

Journal keeping has been a longtime habit of mine, and the book on drawing might help me to add pictures to my journal pages. At least that was my idea in buying the old one dollar book. And so, I used the book for that purpose, with no time limits or expectation.

At the risk of appearing to show off, I have added to these lines some clips of sketches I did with guidance from my one dollar investment. There is no connection between the surrounding journal notes and the drawings. All are random and unattached, and all were done over a period stretching well beyond a single weekend. The example at the bottom of an outstretched arm and cloth is something copied from Fumiyo Kouno’s graphic novel, Town of Evening Calm.