What to Draw? Whaddaya Got?

Birds on a Wire, 5.5 x 8" pen and watercolor at Jim Sannerud Woodturning

Students frequently ask me what they should draw. It's tempting to say, "Well, whatever!" -- because really, pretty much anything can make a good art subject.

If you're practicing drawing, look around your house, your yard, your garage or potting shed. You don't need "pretty" things. A still life does not have to be wine bottles and (*yawn*) fruit. It can be your pegboard in the shed with the red-handled saw hanging there, or the multicolored pliers and screwdrivers. It can be your old work boots on the floor in the sun.

... but the flowers in your garden will work, too. Hollyhocks at Lauri Flaquer's house, from 7/12

Once you start to look for things to draw -- and stop limiting yourself to things that "look like art" -- you'll start seeing everything around you as if for the first time. It's okay if your drawings aren't perfect; the fun in recording them is the point.