Wednesday 26th February - another bouquet - how I learned to draw

 The second oldest flowers still surviving in their vase were given to me on 14th February by BB;

A romantic bouquet of a dozen red roses... the water in the jar must be long gone but the roses haven't dropped.

I used the 'crayon' on my drawing programme on my tablet. 

....

I always assumed that my school teachers were right when one after another they all informed me that I couldn't draw. 

Huh. Those teachers. What were they there for if not to teach? 

Decades later, after years of teaching piano to anyone aged 7 to 70 who came for lessons, I realised that many - most - things are learned; a decent teacher works out the best way to enable their student to learn. Of course we're not all going to be concert pianists (I include myself!) or commercial artists or superb brain surgeons, but most of us can sing (I've taught many a 'growler' to be able to sing in tune, aged from 3 to 80 years old) and draw and write and rhyme... if only teachers who SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER hadn't destroyed their potential instead of teaching them. 

Rant over.

I applied the way I teach piano to teaching myself to draw. The books I've found most transformational were these two;

(The title of this one always makes me laugh... I expect Ang would giggle too)

What woke me up were her worksheets; you are supposed to copy each shape into the blank square below.

You can find a fair number on the Internet as well as the ones in the book. They train you to observe closely as the sheets become more complex. In the end I did find her very prescriptive but learned a lot, and gained confidence from her 'nuts and bolts' approach. 

This next book was an eye-opener. It did what it said; I worked through the exercises over 30 days back in 2020 and thought 'howzat! I can draw!' Not brilliantly well, but still...

My advice is, make a start, set your bar very very low, and follow the instructions. Then be kind and encourage yourself along the way. 

It's like anything; if I don't spend the time at the piano I can't expect to play as well as Lang Lang...

....

Today's line is 'Heaven in ordinary, man well drest'

'To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower' says the poet William Blake. 

Heaven can be found in the ordinary things around us. 

As for 'man well drest'; our clothes would never be grand enough... but utterly doesn't matter to God, he sees past our clothes to the soul inside, and by Grace we're good enough.

I came across this poem as an introduction to a book today, 'Walking the bones of Britain ' by Christopher Somerville  (99p on kindle, but I managed to resist)

The January Man by Dan Goulder

The January man, he walks the road in woollen coat and boots of leather.
The February man still wipes the snow from off his hair and blows his hands.
The man of March he sees the Spring and wonders what the year will bring
And hopes for better weather.

Through April rain the man goes down to watch the birds come in to share the summer.
The man of May stands very still watching the children dance away the day.
In June the man inside the man is young and wants to lend a hand
And grins at each newcomer.

And in July the man in cotton shirt, he sits and thinks on being idle.
The August man in thousands takes the road to watch the sea and find the sun.
September man is standing near to saddle up and lead the year
And Autumn is his bridle.

And the man of new October takes the reins and early frost is on his shoulder.
The poor November man sees fire and wind and mist and rain and Winter air.
December man looks through the snow to let eleven brothers know
They’re all a little older.

And the January man comes round again in woollen coat and boots of leather
To take another turn and walk along the icy road he knows so well.
The January man is here for starting each and every year
Along the way for ever.

Heaven in ordinary.

Here it is sung by Mike Harding 

As a bonus, here's 'the song of the plough'. I found this while hunting for something about everyday people, who would have been living an everyday life, wearing everyday clothes. Even his 'Sunday Best' would have been fairly rough and ready.