Seven Lines

My Three Scenes:

First, my backyard. Using a continuous line for each of the objects worked well for this scene. In just ten minutes, I think it is a decent depiction.

Second: Tumacacori, in southern Arizona. This building, when I traveled there and tried to sketch it, felt like a huge struggle, and a failure, so it now represents my target. To be able to confidently sketch a building like this, when under the time pressure I was under that day. I did not feel seven lines captured it, so I added more detail in this sketch. Perhaps I chose the wrong lines? Still, this sketch took ten minutes, and it does look like the scene!

Third: Bartlett Lake. Just seven lines and this is a wonderful capture of the lake. I’m quite surprised how effective just seven lines are here. I did use continuous lines for the mountain line and the bushes. I absolutely had to use a line for the buzzard. There were many buzzards that day, and it was a highlight of the trip!

Takeaways:

Seven lines approach feels like a game changer! It dramatically helps calm the overwhelm and targets HOW to begin to simplify. My big takeaways have been:

1. Even the simplest, seven lines only sketch can capture the scene and the memories.
2. Different tools do create a different feeling in the sketch, and in the lines.
3. Thicker lines look more intentional and complete when there are only 7 of them, reducing the urge to fill in.
4. It is perfectly acceptable to have a simple sketch. Variety in the sketchbook looks good