Back to the drawing board

AJ gave me a book to read about drawing and learning to draw. One of the first exercises in the book is to draw my own hand so that I have a drawing to use as a reference point - a starting point - so I can see how much I improve over time... I used to draw and sketch a lot back when I was in school, not as part of a class, but just to pass the time during the really boring classes like social studies. I have not done any real drawing for the past 15-20 years and the first exercise really brought back the enjoyment that I used to get from sketching and playing around with pencil and paper. It turned out fairly good I think. There's a bit of distortion of my thumb and pointer finger since I ran them both off the page, but other than that the drawing looks pretty much like my hand, so I can't complain.

Becky bought me a portable desk and a few drawing pencils this morning. I don't have anyplace to work at home, so the portable desk makes it possible for me to just sit in any chair and draw comfortably. I test drove the desk while the girls went swimming this afternoon.

(click on the image to see it full size)

I still have to draw a chair, a real face and an imaginary face as part of the first exercise. I'll post them here no matter how they turn out. Once I am finished with the book (and quite a few other drawings) I will draw the same items again and see how much I have improved...

Still here

It's been a long time since I have felt like writing anything. I guess it's the whole "if you have nothing good to say..." thing that keeps me quiet when I am feeling out of sorts.

We finally got some snow here in Minnesota. It snowed this past weekend and again last night. I figure we have more than a foot of powder snow outside at the moment. It's kept us from getting out of the apartment much since neither Becky nor I enjoy driving when the roads are slick. I didn't mind so much driving when I had the Jeep, but the van kind of sucks once the snow gets packed down.

We're planning a sledding trip this afternoon. That should get us out of the house and re-energize everyone a bit...