Observe the Elements

Another week, another class, another artistic adventure. For me, this week's class with Danny Gregory was all about giving myself permission. Part discussion, part lecture, part drawing, and all inspiration. We spent time reviewing art myths, such as "to be an artist you must be a professional" and "everything an artist makes is great." His beliefs that there are no rules for our journals and that there is charm to be found in the screwed up and wonky is so freeing to me and makes me feel so much more comfortable in exploring a new art medium. One of my favorite concepts that he shared with us was the notion that drawing is a reflection of your state of mind and that you can never separate the "you" from the drawing. This may seem obvious but hearing it aloud from Danny brought this thought to a whole new level.

We did a number of fascinating group and individual exercises, many aimed at being better able to observe the elements of drawing.


In one exercise, Danny gave us a drawing of a man that he made and asked us to copy it. The catch...copy it upside down. On the left is part of his original drawing.







This is a portion of my drawing, oriented in the way it was sketched








And here is part of my drawing turned right side up. For some reason, his facial expression looks a little meaner in my drawing. But I think they are pretty close. The lesson...by observing and focusing on the elements, you break the image down in such a way as to make even the most complex image easier to draw. How ironic that this becomes easier by turning the image upside down.