Jimmie's Collage » drawing

Sketch Tuesdays

Jimmie — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 05:00:54 +0000

I am a fan of Barb’s Sketch Tuesday. It’s so simple, but simple usually works.

Each week she gives a broad topic for a sketch. You send her your scanned (or photographed) sketches, and she compiles them into a slideshow. This week’s theme was something from a first aid kit. (Mine on left; Sprite’s on right.)

There are no grades, no awards, just a gentle nudge in the right direction to keep drawing. Thanks, Barb!

I find that having her assign us a topic really keeps us on track with consistently drawing. So once you’ve done the assignments in Drawing With Children, Sketch Tuesday is a great weekly project. It takes only minutes, and we do it together as a mother daughter activity.

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Painting on Canvas

Jimmie — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:19:51 +0000

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Sprite snatched the paints and a drop cloth and disappeared in her room one night with the one remaining canvas. I had no idea what she was creating. I was far too busy getting my Taobao account set up. I’ll be blogging about that later, I’m sure. It’s basically a Chinese Ebay, but I’m getting off topic. Back to art.

I’ve always said that art supplies don’t count. And Sprite knows I’m a total push over for buying brushes, markers, glitter, felt, and so on. It’s true. I feel that a person must have materials for creativity. Without them, how can we express ourselves? Now the last canvas is used up. But no worries. I’ve already located them on Taobao.

She has covered much of her bedroom wall with an outer space themed set of drawings done with oil pastels on canvas. I had them all framed and was quite pleased at the supportive comments I received from the frame shop employees and the customers who saw them. They oohed and ahhed and seemed to understand clearly that I was trying to support my daughter’s creativity by framing and displaying her work.

To be honest, I was surprised at their reaction. In the past when Sprite and I have sketched outdoors, we’ve received open criticism, “Your sketch is terrible.” “She can’t draw at all!” But here were kindly women nodding with approval at my daughter’s art and smiling knowingly at me.

Thank You, God. It is a small but beautiful blessing to be understood. It’s one of the hardest parts about living in another culture — being misunderstood.

Visual Oddities — Upside Down Faces

Jimmie — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:17:32 +0000

Recently I discovered Planet Perplex. This is an intriguing site full of visual trickery — ambiguous images, optical illusions, impossible images, and more. (WARNING: there are some yucky images that may offend you or a sensitive child, so be careful!! There is a skull on the index page. This site is not for kids. But with wise selection, you can browse it with your child.)

My daughter Sprite loved the images on the website! Some kids read in bed. Well, Sprite often draws in bed. That night she was inspired to make her own upside down face.

I took her drawing and scanned it twice. Then I put the two perspectives side by side so you can see the two faces. The one on the left is smiling, and the one on the right is a snooty sneer. But it’s the identical drawing!!

If you can’t “see” it, click on the image to go to Flickr where I added notes to the image to explain the parts. I am so proud of her! WOW!