Thanks!

Thanks for the interest that so many of you have shown in this blog! Someone asked if I minded if they posted my little square graphic and a link to this blog on their blog. I would love it if people want to do that! Here is the graphic.

 Please link it back to this blog: http://penpencilpaperdraw.blogspot.com/

I also wanted to point out the tabs at the top of this page. The one called "tools" has some suggestions for drawing supplies and the one called "inspiration" will take you to websites and blogs about drawing, as well as suggesting some books and other resources. If you have suggestions for resources to add to this I will post them. The more, the better!

And now, I have some shoe drawings to share.

Kristin LaFlamme sent her drawing of her Hawaiian shoes

Karen Miller shared her sneaker drawing

Click on over to Quilterin's blog to see her wonderful red sandal drawing.

Did you draw your shoe?

Did you know that Andy Warhol drew a whole series of shoe drawings? They are nothing like his soup cans!

vanGogh painted and drew many, many shoes.

I remember seeing this painting of his shoes in a museum in France and being very moved by it. Something about shoes. They take on the shape of the wearer's foot and are shaped by the wearer's gait and walking habits. More than other kinds of clothing, shoes conform to the wearer and become almost a part of you.

More vanGogh shoes:

These are the shoes I walked around Europe in back in 1972.

I drew them in a campground in Italy. I used a non-permanent Flair marker, then used a wet paintbrush to add a wash by picking up some of the ink from the drawing.

So, did you draw your shoe yet?

Introduction

Do you want to draw better? I do. I know that the only thing that makes one better at drawing is to draw, but it is hard to find the time. It really shouldn't be. It takes only 20 or 30 minutes a day to make a drawing, but it seems I rarely make that little space of drawing time. So I decided to start a drawing blog! My hope is that some of you will join with me and we will draw together.

I pondered how to start—there are so many ways to draw, so many books to study, so many kinds of drawing media. In the end I think the best place to start is to just draw. So, if you want to follow along, take off your shoe and draw it. Use any kind of pen or pencil you like. Look carefully at your shoe. Notice the details. Notice the proportions. Draw it carefully. Erase if you need to. Toss it away and start over if you need to, but don't spend more than 30 minutes on it. Don't worry if it isn't perfect. This is your starting point. Write the date on it. Put it away and save it. You will enjoy looking at it later to see how much your drawing has improved!

Who's with me?