I reluctantly decided against going to the National Maritime Museum today to join the others sketching - too long and awkward a journey at peak time. However I was determined that I would do some drawing. After the session in the
V&A ceramics collections, I had looked at the pottery I produced myself over 20 years ago in a new light. Besides tiny thumb pots , I was obsessed with coils and a luscious green glaze that produced varied colours - they're a bit clunky but Ian likes them and they look good from a distance on top of the bookshelves. From a sketching perspective I thought they would be an interesting challenge to try and draw.
2 hours passed very quickly ( it helped that the chair was comfortable and no craning of neck involved) . I can see now it's not right ( I was so absorbed I didn't step back from it) but there's areas I like . Next time I'd concentrate on a detail and pay more attention to the quality and variation of the line.
Sorting through books to pack, I came across my copy of
Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin. I've carried out some of the exercises in the past to improve observation, so that even a
simple pebble can look monumental. So I've decided over the next few weeks to draw some of the small treasures I've collected over the years: stones, shells, bits of glass and pottery, the aim being to spend no longer than 30 minutes on each.
