Rules of Drawing

When Dana started kindergarten in Berkeley, the schools were in a phase of wild experimentation. I can still hear her teacher, a sweet, enthusiastic Southern woman named Mrs Chichester, saying, "If you fill a classroom with all kinds of experiences, and leave the children to their own devices, they will gravitate to their area of greatest weakness…." 

It was my feeling, having been required, as were all parents of kids in the class,  to spend one day a week in the classroom, that many kids tended to gravitate to the music corner and the Jackson Five. 

When we got to Scotland, Dana was in second grade, and being a pragmatic child who thrived on self-discipline and rules, loved the fact that there were multiplication tables and flash cards and she knew exactly what was expected of her.

"If you don't learn these five rules, your drawing won't work"…a much more credible statement of how to learn something from my next door neighbor, Janet. The rules are:
1. Define the edges
2. Define the positive and negative spaces
3. Relationships and proportions
4. Shading
5. Editing
Just the kind of rules my exceptionally right brained self needs to  produce a reasonable likeness of an object, in this case two slightly odd shaped IKEA cups.

Thank you, Janet…I can't wait for the next lesson.