Mindful Sketching: How to Develop a Drawing Practice and Embrace the Art of Imperfection

Mindful Sketching: How to Develop a Drawing Practice and Embrace the Art of Imperfection

by Peggy Dean
Mindful Sketching: How to Develop a Drawing Practice and Embrace the Art of Imperfection

Mindful Sketching: How to Develop a Drawing Practice and Embrace the Art of Imperfection

by Peggy Dean

Paperback

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Overview

Slow down, connect with your artistic side, and unleash your innate creativity with this unique guide that’s one part mindfulness practice and one part drawing instruction.

“[Dean's] joyful approach to embracing imperfections throughout the process is a breath of fresh air… Thanks to her inclusive style, beginners and pros alike can feel confident in their creativity.” —Brit + Co


Let beloved art teacher Peggy Dean (IG: @thepigeonletters) show you how powerful it is to create something! Discover the pleasure of expressing yourself through sketching—even if you think you can’t draw. 

Peggy’s got tips on the materials you’ll need, easy techniques you can use right away, and methods for approaching any subject or location. She offers step-by-step exercises to help you relax into the drawing process, and gives you ways to tackle tricky beginner problems like “what should I sketch?” 

Learn how to stay with the small moments as you work, draw what you see around you, and embrace the results.

Grab your sketchbook and experience how relaxing, rewarding, and life-changing a drawing practice can be.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781632174192
Publisher: Sasquatch Books
Publication date: 05/17/2022
Pages: 176
Sales rank: 318,163
Product dimensions: 7.40(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Peggy Dean is a best-selling author, award-winning educator, and founder of the popular educational platform The Pigeon Letters. Peggy's books include The Ultimate Brush Lettering Guide, Botanical Line Drawing, and Peggy Dean’s Guide to Nature Drawing & Watercolor. Her work has been nationally recognized in worldwide publications. She maintains a popular instructional social media platform to inspire people to create. Peggy lives and works in Portland, Oregon and travels the world for speaking engagements and hands-on workshops.

Read an Excerpt

MINDFULNESS AND SKETCHING
 
I’m so excited to take you through what I have found to be a rather profound adventure in discovery, that at first glance appears simply visual, but runs so much deeper. It is powerful to create something and add your own unique spin on it, through your style, selections, energy, or all of the above.
 
I encourage you to make this experience your own. As you connect to your creative side, know that you do not need to know how to draw. Sketching our surroundings is even better when your efforts have an organic energy without perfect lines, proportions, or symmetry. Being free in this way will allow you to cultivate a deeper connection with all that surrounds you.
 
I first felt the impact of this style of sketching when I came across a piece by James Richards. I not only saw this artwork, but I felt it.
 
From the vibrancy of his color choices to his expressive lines to his intentional subject matter—a bustling crowd, greenery, and old architecture captured in a way only he can—I saw the unique beauty of it.
 
Each style you come across will have a different feel. A group of people can draw the same subject and each interpretation would be specific to the person who created it, whether on purpose or not. We can’t hide from our own unique creative interpretations on paper: It’s a beautiful thing.

BENEFITS OF DEVELOPING A SKETCHING PRACTICE
 
Have you ever noticed upon reflection that a cramped road trip, a long waiting period, or some other experience that might have been considered an inconvenience yielded a silver lining based on some minor or unexpected things that occurred? Sometimes the memories we have highlight the best moments during those times rather than the final result or destination. I had a paradigm shift when I adopted this mindset after noticing my own thought reflections. Suddenly, what I used to consider moments of unimportant or even annoying “in-between times” became memorable and important.
 
It’s about the journey. So do it for the process.

Table of Contents

Foreword vi

Introduction: A Message to My Readers ix

The Flip Side of Mindfulness 1

Materials 13

Sketching with the Goal of Imperfection 17

Techniques 33

Framing a Scene 67

Capturing Moods in Sketches 81

What You Sketch Evokes Emotion 87

Your Chosen Subject 95

Techniques for Sketching People 115

Sketching Prompts 127

Redefine Completion 137

Resources 147

Acknowledgments 155

Index 156

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