There is so much to learn.
My study to-do list is a mile long. On anatomy, I have to buckle down and learn the hand and forearm the way I learned the foot and lower leg last spring. I have several more Bargue plates to do just on hands and arms. I have painting exercises to begin (in moderation). I have several drawings that need starting and several more that need finishing. The next long-pose figure drawing gets underway tomorrow. I have scientific books on color to read and understand, casts to draw, studies of ribbon for modeling hair. Plus, my studio is a mess.
I spent much of the weekend trying to clean up the studio space a little. Little being the key word. By late afternoon Sunday, exhausted and hot, I didn’t feel able to tackle any of the above. I decided to just keep it simple just for the sake of trying to draw something – anything. I slapped down a cylinder and busted out the charcoal. When you’re overwhelmed, Just do something simple. And try to do it well.
Steve Armes did a nice demo on drawing a cylinder on his site. This is good practice for just slowing down and not trying to rush to finish, which I’ll need to do for the figure session. SLOW DOWN. Why do you expect that good things should come quickly? This cylinder drawing is around step 8 – of 18 – on Steve’s process. Probably around 90 minutes in at this point. The top ellipse probably took half of that time, and I’m still refining it. There’s still plenty to do.
Like in martial arts, music, and probably everything else, you can never have too many basics, or too much practice of them. When all else fails, fall back on them, and your time will be well spent.