art ideas process

A Drawing Exercise from College

Anita Mills, one of my college professors, posted this marvelous New York Times article about blind contour drawing [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-blind-contour-drawing.html?_r=0] on Facebook. I remember blind contour drawing well. The exercise has students, using charcoal and large pieces of newsprint paper, draw a subject without looking at the paper. The results are always laughable, but the exercise makes students see their subjects differently and frees them from trying to draw the “perfect” picture. This is what Sam…

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reading writing

YOCR #9 – Disappointed with Imagine

I finished reading “Imagine: How Creativity Works” by Jonah Lehrer last night. This is one of the books on my Year of Creative Reading list and I really, really wanted to wholeheartedly love it, but I can’t. I was well on my way to loving it, having written a blog post quoting a portion of the book. If I’m compelled to quote a book, it’s made a serious impression on me. While wrapping up the…

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inspiration observations

Lush

This, right here, right now, is my favorite time of the year. April, May, June, whenever in Minnesota it decides to warm up and become green, a vibrant spring green. My college color theory professor pointed out that if you pay close attention to nature, spring greens and summer greens have different qualities. I’m a spring green kind of gal. I especially appreciate spring green with a light rain. The foliage becomes lush, which is…

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