Things Non-Artists Don't Understand

Bookkeeper always loves talking with her fellow artists. One thing she's noticed is that artists seem to have similar habits and pet peeves.

Now, "art" is a huge category and Bookkeeper can't speak for everyone, but these certainly hold true for her:

• When an artist at heart compliments you on your cool hat/jacket/hairstyle, you can bet she'll draw a picture of it as soon as she gets her hands on a pencil.
• The difference between an artist an a non-artist is this: when someone says "I like to draw!..."
• An artist will say "Awesome, can I see some of your drawings?"
• A non-artist will say "Awesome, can you draw me?"
• Drawing isn't a talent, it's a skill. Great artists are the ones who spent years improving their art style bit by bit until they got to where they are now, they weren't magically born with it.
• "That's really good! All I can draw is stick figures!" Is not as witty as non-artists seem to think it is. 
• Most artists have learned to cringe when they hear the words "Can you draw my charrie? I can give you a description, you just draw what I tell you."
• A lot of good artists draw pictures of people all the time. That doesn't mean they also have the skill to draw your favorite animal, or even a tree for that matter. So don't expect every artist to know how to draw a giraffe off the top of his head.
• What an artist visualizes and what she draws are completely different.
• What an artist draws and what he describes are completely different, too. Expect to hear a lot along the lines of "Yeah, it's really messy and the anatomy is awful, I know..."
• If you ask to look at an artist's sketchbook, nine times out of ten it will be open to the picture she least wants you to see. 
• If you are an artist, prepare to receive pencils, paint, notebooks, color-by-number kits, and how-to-draw books for every gift giving occasion. Even if you don't want them.
• People who watch over an artist's shoulder as he draws are both flattering and really annoying at the same time.
• Upon seeing a really fantastic piece of art...
• A non-artist will say "I could never do that."
• An artist will say "I could do something better... if I really tried."
• Learn these magic words: "Wow, thanks for drawing this picture for me! Is there anything I can do to repay you?" 
• Sometimes an artist just doesn't feel like drawing

Fun with Chalk

Yes, yes, the bookkeeper knows it's a bit cold out to be drawing with chalk, but if she waits 'till summer she won't get the chance.

You see, Bookkeeper knows of this park with a nice BIG patch of sidewalk. Every summer, little kids come to the park with bucket-loads of chalk and draw smiley faces and whatnot all over it. Which is actually pretty fun.

But this time Bookkeeper wanted to have the sidewalk all to herself so she could draw a REALLY BIG dragon:

So big that she couldn't fit the whole thing in the camera's lens. 

As it turns out, drawing really big pictures with chalk didn't take any more talent than drawing little pictures with pencil. All she had to do was sketch everything out with brown, then go over the good lines with bright yellow:

Of course, her next step was to color in the dragon. She also sketched out a knight, but she never finished it because it was time to head home for supper.

Here's the knight from a different angle:

If you look closely at the top left, you can see the bookkeeper's bucket of chalk. And her brother's feet.

And that's all the drawings bookkeeper feels like uploading today.

Just So You Know

Bookkeeper is in a bit of an art slump. When she drew three good pictures in a row two weeks ago she must have used up all her talent or something.

She'll have some art to post this Wednesday, though.