Weeds & Wildflowers July Drawing Challenge
I’m Chuffed!
Yes, I drew this 😊
I can’t draw. It makes me nervous to draw, but I was determined to get out of my head and complete the July W&W drawing challenge. I mean, after all, it was my challenge!
This was my fourth attempt at drawing our banner photo by Christine Morris Ph.D.. The first two were on plain paper before deciding I needed lined paper to keep me from going all cattywampus on the page.
At first, I chose a paper that had lines that were too prominent. They distracted me and took focus away from the drawing. I also found that the plain and lined papers were too big, although they were typical letter-sized. I felt the need to fill all the space, resulting in a bird the size of a large crow!
I dug through stacks of notebooks I hadn’t touched in years and found a small, unused graph paper notebook. Where did that come from?? I looked at the label on the back. It was in Chinese, leading me to assume that the Chinese student who lived with us for six months left it behind. Actually, she left a box of items, saying she would come back to get them. That was 2014. She returned in 2017 and said she didn’t have time to go through the box and would tackle it the next time she returned. She hasn’t come back. Three years ago, I emptied it.
The paper is 5.5 inches by 8 inches — the perfect size.
I drew from Christine’s photo as it appears in our W&W banner. The original photo showed both of the bird’s legs, while the banner only shows the upper leg. I felt one leg was enough of a challenge for me!
The leg and the eye were the most difficult parts. No matter how many times I drew the eye, it always looked rather sinister.
I’m going to keep trying to improve on this. I might even use the photo with two legs!
© Dennett 2023
So far, only Allisonn Church has responded to the challenge:
Come on, Weeds & Wildflowers, if I was brave enough to try this, you can do the same!
And here is Deepti Kannapan’s garlic bulb drawing that inspired this challenge:
