sketching

Sketch Lessons /  by Anne Ylvisaker

Edward Hopper: Studies for Nighthawks

It's the persistence that makes the understanding happen.

I have an amazing instructor for my sketch class this summer. It’s clear that Ms. Thorson feels about drawing what I feel about writing – that it is a skill that can be learned by everyone and that it enriches the way we experience the world.

I’ve had a major aha moment in every single class. Exhilarating. Using this other part of my brain is revving up my creative energy. And what I’m learning about drawing is having a direct impact on my writing. I’m in the drafting stage of several new writing ideas, a stage that is much like sketching.

Here is a selection of the many wise words of my instructor that can be directly applied to the writing process.

Sketching is a process, a practice, and a way of understanding what you see.

Tonight we’ll inhabit the sense of experience.

…there’s interest in how life happens around us.

You’re building a set of steps to a new understanding.

A lot of the creative process is finding solutions. Find a solution to this small problem and then something happens.

We are cultivating stamina and focus.

Be more conscious of what you know and use it.

And my favorite quote, worth repeating, one I’ve applied to my writing each and every day:

It’s the persistence that makes the understanding happen.