I’m used to working with the subject in front of me. I rely upon it to provide me with proportions and relationships. When I leave that world and rely only upon my imagination, I feel lost, needing something to grab onto that is simply not there.
This morning I sat down with a piece of hot-press watercolor paper. I’m trying to figure out how to use it so I thought I’d doodle a bit. This sketch started with an eye. Then I added some hairs around it. This led to the addition of a nose and I was off in never-never-land, trying to figure out how to draw a mouse.
I don’t know how to draw a mouse. I’m sure I got the proportions wrong but my serendipitous road took me to needing a mouse all scrunched up while trying to hold onto something. Where are a mouse’s feet anyways? I don’t really know. I was just doodling. Anyways, here it is. Mice, even poorly proportioned mice are cute.
My buddy Yvan has told me that I needed to spend more time drawing from imagination. According to him, if you do this you will never look at the world the same because you’ll always be building a vocabulary so you can draw from imagination. I think he’s right. I need to go look at some mice.