Looking into Doll Faces

Welcome to Day 17 of Drawing Into Poems, my daily drawing/seeing/writing study into poetry.  You can read more about this month-long project here on my April 1 post.  Feel free to read the books with me, and pull out your own sketchbook and jewelry box full of metaphor too...

Day 17 - Hope's Doll

Click to enlarge the drawing.

Students - I have been thinking about drawing this doll all month.  But I've been a little bit nervous about it.  She's so cute...and I wanted my picture to do her justice.  Today I just jumped in.  (I think she was calling my name!)  There is something different about drawing something with a face: an animal, a person, a doll. Drawing, I form a relationship with my subject, and I do feel closer to this sweet doll now.

Tracing Juniper's edges and curves, drawing her knitted garments, I was transported back to my childhood again, most particularly to the doll that Grandma made for me.  Flopsy and Eva were handmade and special, and as I remember them, I also remember the kelly green handsewn doll that I received from the hospital when I had my tonsils out at 6.  I was amazed that someone I did not even know would make a doll for me. Her legs were satin, and her face was sewn with thread.  What a parade of little faces I have known.

What little faces have you known?  You might wish to choose a face from your life...look at it, either in real life or in a photograph, and let your pen or pencil make marks to match it. What memories arise in you?

Today, Robyn Hood Black is featuring my Drawing Into Poems project over at her very cool artsy blog, Artsyletters.  It's an honor to be there today, and I highly recommend Artsyletters, Life on the Deckle Edge, Robyn's writing blog, and her Etsy shop!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Nature Tidbits Make Me Think

Welcome to Day 16 of Drawing Into Poems, my daily drawing/seeing/writing study into poetry.  You can read more about this month-long project here on my April 1 post.  Feel free to read the books with me, and pull out your own sketchbook and jewelry box full of metaphor too...

Day 16 - Lichen

Click to enlarge the drawing.

Students - Yesterday I drew something small, part of something large, a bit of bark with lichen attached.  Spending time studying this bit of nature brought up a lot of questions, some of which I asked Mark.  I never knew that lichen could go dormant when dry and out of good growing conditions and then pep back up to life a long time later.  Nature is resilient...and so are we.  Sometimes a little tidbit from nature can get me thinking about bigger ideas.

Here is a poem for today - The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry.

Yesterday's #WonderChat about poetry was postponed/cancelled out of respect for the victims of the tragedy at the Boston Marathon.  I will let you know should it be rescheduled.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Beginning to Draw People

Welcome to Day 13 of Drawing Into Poems, my daily drawing/seeing/writing study into poetry.  You can read more about this month-long project here on my April 1 post.  Feel free to read the books with me, and pull out your own sketchbook and jewelry box full of metaphor too...

Day 13 - The Leaning Man

Click the image to enlarge it.

Students - Yesterday, for the first time this month, I drew a person, a stranger.  I was out in the world, and I had a good time looking around and choosing a subject.  I think this will be the theme for this upcoming week: drawing in new places as much as I can.  And I think I'll try to draw more people too, their gestures and clothing, their hair and faces.  (And I'll try to be secretive!)

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!