drawing lessons

Last night, it was cold - cold enough to merit a jacket. The sun is setting earlier and earlier these days, so we took an evening walk in the dark. We could see our breath in foggy puffs as we walked along, with Daisy the Dog running through the field in half-moon light. We decided this was the right kind of night for hot chocolate. So, we sat outside on our little porch and wrapped our hands around warm cups of double chocolate hot chocolate. And quickly drank it up.

Drawing lessons.

I always thought that drawing was an innate talent. Either you can draw, or you can't draw. But Ben says I can learn how to draw and has promised to teach me. So, after hot chocolate, we commenced with my very first drawing lesson.

I'm creative - but definitely not what anyone would describe as artistic. There is a difference, you know - between Creative and Artistic. My drawings never seem to have progressed beyond the 4th grade level - so somewhere along the way, I decided I can't draw. I don't draw. I will never be able to draw. But Ben is convinced otherwise.

We started the lesson by flipping through Ben's sketch book from college. Ben draws very nicely. But, as he points out, he did not always draw very nicely. "Look," he says, pointing to one of his very first drawings. "Terrible." And he's a little right about that. His first drawings are rough.

But as we continue to turn the pages, his drawings actually start to take shape and improve, with dimension and perspective and astute shading. He hopes this will encourage me.

"The first rule of tonight's lesson," he says, "is that tonight, your drawings will be bad." Oh. This makes me not want to draw. The perfectionist in me says to walk away now. This will not be pretty.

But I opt to stay. I have a nice clean sketchpad balanced on my knees and a charcoal pencil and a rubbery new eraser that Ben gave me. So, we start.

"Begin by making your shapes," says Ben. "And don't take your eye off the object." The "object," being two glass vases sitting on our coffee table for the purpose of the drawing lesson. And how do you draw glass, I wonder.

"Just start. Don't think about it."

Fine.

I start to sketch, but my vases are flat. One dimensional. Terrible. And he keeps making me draw them, over and over. Page after page of pitiful vases.

But it did happen. I did progress a little. My drawings improved as the lesson went on. They were nowhere near good or even recognizable - but they were just a little better than when I first began. So, maybe - just maybe - I'll ask for another drawing lesson.