Since my last post I have been struggling to get to grips with drawing. In that effort I have scoured my books and done a few exercises  but nothing really helps other than to keep drawing.  The one thing I have learnt is that I cannot drawing a straight line to save my life. However that appears to be the least of my problems.  Hereare a couple of examples:
this was an exercise from ‘drawing on the right side of the brain’ using a plastic view finder where you draw directly on the plastic and then you transfer the image to your paper. Its a bit of a cheat really. I have tried using the view finder before where you place in front of you and translate the image you see onto paper. I cannot work with it.

This one was about working with negative space which was fine for the bottom half but then I lost it trying to find the space for the seat. I was getting there but was grateful for the need to move the chair for dinner.

As I was concentrating on improving my drawing, the painting I started a few weeks back has been rather neglected.  I must admit I thought this might be easier with the grid in the background but really all it has meant is that I have concentrated on the background rather than the object, a drummer.  However this afternoon, I think I made some progress with it although it has a ways to before it is complete.  Hopefully this will be the first of three.