This week I contemplated what I draw and why I have the approach that I do.

Rubbish bins under an overpass at Darling Harbour Sydney

Specifically, I was thinking about the fact that I do not have any difficulty in finding a subject to draw. To me anything is interesting. Sit me in front of anything and I will draw it. I do not concern myself with sunlight, shadow, or arranging of objects. True, sometime there will be a bit of positioning as to where to get the best point of view and a little shuffling of objects. And some scenes, buildings and objects certainly inspire me more than others.

There is beauty in the everyday .  Garbage bins or old mushrooms can be beautiful (for a short time).  When you draw, you look closely and observe details . There are many articles written about this aspect of drawing (which I can’t find right at this moment).

I think that  my approach comes from my drawing background.

I have been drawing since high school, when with my best friend, we would draw in weekends and after school. We would copy from pictures of popstars from Smash Hits (UK music) magazine.

Ah Ha 1985??

 I was not very prolific and a drawing would take ages, as I agonised over every line  (but I like to think that it taught me that the slightest change of angle to a line can alter the personality of a person on the page).

For many years after that I drew from pictures in magazines, but I began to spend more and more time looking for the ‘perfect’ picture to draw, sometimes not drawing at all. I can still remember the frustration and angst I went through in looking for a picture to draw. 

After many years of not putting pencil to paper I began again to draw again sometime in 2000? I was given a sketchbook and a challenge. To draw everyday . I think that each month had to have a different theme.

  people at a cafe

a long hospital stay filled two sketchbooks

demolition of Sydney Convention Centre

I sketched intermittently between 2004 when I moved to Sydney and then sketched regularly with Liz Steel, then other sketching friends as my sketching world broadened with Sydney Sketch Club and then Urban Sketchers. This has directed and influenced my approach to sketching and drawing. I have gravitated and embraced the Urban Sketchers movement. My sketching and drawing approach is all about drawing on location  and capturing the moment, big or small. It is also about drawing the everyday, as I drawing things around me or in my life. I draw everyday and have just started my 63rd Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook since December 2008. 

I was also influenced by the Everyday Matters (EDM) challenges were on Flickr and each week provided a new prompt for something to draw. They dominated my creative process each week as I excitedly looked forward to posting my new drawing and finding out the challenge for the next week, EDM’s  provided the path of my other ‘drawing hat’, as I took more time to finish a page over a few nights. 

So now in 2017 I carry my sketchbook around, sketching all the time, capturing the moment and also am involved in a number of projects that involve more studies drawings. I love to draw !

However this is to say there are not challenge – peoples faces are difficult to capture, I find it hard to draw from my imagination and commissions scare me ! 

Discover your own path and have fun !