DRAW WHAT YOU SEE

by Joan Waites

I’ve recently become acquainted with the work of sketchbook artist and author Danny Gregory. Inspired by his book Everyday Matters, a Memoir (Hyperion, 2003), I’ve started using some of his drawing and journal techniques with my students.  In his book, he describes teaching himself to draw in a sketchbook/ journal using a “slow, careful gaze” when rendering the objects or scene he is observing. Instead of drawing what you know, draw what you see.

For example, if I place an apple on the table for my young art students to draw in their sketchbooks, most will begin by quickly drawing a circle. While it’s helpful to start drawing using basic geometric shapes, by slowing down and really observing the apple carefully, we can see that it’s most likely not a perfect shape. One half may be larger; it may have bumps, scratches or even a worm hole. All of these details make that one particular apple unique. Along with the sketch, I ask that they write down five unique observations they noted while drawing.  This helps to get them to slow down and really think about what they see.

Using this exercise in the classroom with your students, begin a drawing/writing session with a few ordinary objects from around the classroom--writing instruments, scissors, tape dispensers or more complex objects based on the age of the class. Ask the students to take a full ten minutes to really observe and draw what is placed on the table. Then ask students to note five or more details they observed while looking closely at the object. Take it a step further, and have children write a short story about the object, incorporating those five noted details.

Best wishes to all our readers for a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year!

www.joanwaites.com

TRANSFORMING A FREE WRITE

by Jacqueline Jules

Free writes are a staple of writing workshops. Gurus like Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within) frequently advise writers of all ages to just keep that pen moving across the page. It doesn’t matter what you write in the first draft, just get some words down. And it is good advice. Before I start a project and every time I get stuck, I put my fingers on the keyboard and type ideas, questions, fears, memories, and anything else that comes to mind in a random manner. I don’t worry about figurative language, clichés, or didactic phrases. I just get words down, something that I can re-read to rework later. 

Here is an example of a free write I did for a poem later called “Daddy and Venice.”

The final poem, published in Imitation Fruit, May 2010. 

had only one line from the free write: “dressed in pigeons.”  I used that image to describe what it was like to feed the pigeons in Saint Mark’s Square in Venice when I was a girl.

So how did I transform a free write which essentially says I don’t remember much beyond the pigeons and my father’s desire to show me the beauty of Venice? My poem makes references to the Doge’s palace, a grand staircase, gondolas with Persian rugs and velvet seats— details I absolutely did not remember from my eight-year-old-experience in Venice. How did I do it? Research! I went to Venice travel sites and used the facts I found to create imagery in my poem.

The next time you study countries, ask your students to write a poem using highlights described in their research. Travel websites are designed to entice the reader to spend the necessary dollars to see that not-to-be-missed vacation spot in person. They are great sources of persuasive language and generally chocked full of sensory images. Using interesting details spices up any piece of writing.  

 www.jacquelinejules.com