My Earliest Drawing Memory: A Railroad Scene

My earliest memory about art was learning to draw from the John Gnagy book. I may even still have a copy of the book around somewhere that I have picked up since for old time's sake.

 Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

Web-world is wonderful to recapture some of these memories with ease. I don't recall ever seeing him on television though. I was probably 8 or 10 years old.

Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

After catching these www images, I remembered drawing the great dane's head within circumscribed cubical volumes to outline the general shape.

 Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

The Whistle Stop series of six, step-by-step, progressive, instructional lessons for linear perspective is my most cogent and earliest recollection. I must have tried several times to get this drawing right in pencil and charcoal. Trains were still around when I was a child so this was a fascinating subject matter for me. One of my parent's dear friends was a railroad switchman and a dairy farmer in Massachusetts. I have fond memories of many farm and railroad anecdotes and events about that hard-working, jovial Finnish man during that time in my life.

Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

Horizons and vanishing points.

Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

Basic shapes to represent forms.

Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

Add shading to enhance shape modeling.

Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

I will never forget trying to get the width of the grain bins and the train tracks uniform.

Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

By this time, adding the details made my drawing different than the example.

Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

Lots of smudges had the potential to make the drawing dirty. I remember lots of erasing and try to get the right amount of dark and light contrast.

 Photo Courtesy John Gnagy: Internet Fair Use

I hadn't seen this drawing before but it seems quite rural idyllic. A short walk along memory lane.

Linked to the Smarter-Than-Me Phone

In this age of technology, I can post from my mobile device. I have attached a picture to see the effect, if any, on the blog entries. There are numerous momentary glimpses along the Daily Walk that can now be captured closer to real time and shared closer to real time.

It worked with the text and picture above. And I will have the option of editing afterward. Yippee.

The Journeyman: A New Trek

So without too much drama, we start a new leg of the Artistic Endeavor and the Creative Pursuit. Today's imperative was to get the new blog started and link it to the first leg of the Journey posted at Impressionism at Idle Acres. One of the first explorations made there was to pose the Stages of Artistic Growth.  In looking back and reviewing Idle Acres, I surmise that I was mostly in the first step, Starting, comprised of Initiative and Imitation. I was an Apprentice having learned some basic skills that can be applied to the task at hand. I have not yet acquired the discipline of a dedicated practitioner of Art. There is much in my head and heart but not yet enough in my hands.

As the Journeyman, I expect my future trek to expose me to many things allowing me to inch upward along the paradigm of Initiative, Imitation, and Innovation. I will endeavor to get outside of my comfort zone, stretch outside of my habitual domain, and seek to find the elements of my own Inspiration and Originality. This is the seeking of Self.