Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter

Here’s a drawing of a milkweed pod.  The white charcoal over the black made everything look sort of blue but I guess that’s how you learn.  Anyway, I love the form of these pods–so many seeds packed in and the silvery fluff spilling out.  But if I don’t spray them with fixative the stuff gets all over the house.

I have a collection of tiny plastic farmers, farm animals and rubber babies on top of my china cabinet. I’ve used them in still life paintings but mostly I just like the way they look. Also my granddaughter delights in creating little dramas with them. So this is my drawing for today. Ed says if it were an elephant instead of a pig it would be a political cartoon and I’m thinking that has possibilities…

I’ve joined DrawMo!–a project to do a drawing a day for the month of November.  It’s like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  A couple of years ago Ed wrote a whole novel in November so I figure I can manage one drawing every day.  My plan is to rise early as I usually do and have a quiet time for drawing before it gets light enough  to walk for an hour.  Contemplating such a disciplined regimen makes me feel organized and pure but I can predict that by the end of the month I’ll be dashing off any old thing at any old time.

This first drawing is  of one of many pieces of bone I’ve collected in the woods and elsewhere.  Last year on a walk we found a coyote carcass that someone had dumped over a bluff.  I kept an eye on it for several months until most of the flesh was gone.  Then I took the bones home and soaked them in bleach which I was sure would completely disinfect them.  And then I took them with me to draw while we were visiting our daughter Alison.  I was sitting at her dining table happily drawing a skull when I noticed something moving on the table–lots and lots of tiny worms.  Horreur!!  I quickly cleaned up the table, took the bones outside and boiled some water to pour over them.  I never told Alison who will learn about it if she reads this blog.

Anyway, here’s a quick pencil drawing of what I think must be a vertebra.  Whether it’s from the coyote or from a deer skeleton I can’t tell.  But what impresses me is the sheer beauty of natural forms.  The more I studied the bone as I was drawing, the more dazzled I was by the subtleties of the construction.