Gather Materials:
- an artist’s journal, unlined notebook, or piece of paper
- a variety of pencils
- a timer
Today’s Exercise
Opposites: Noisy & Quiet
Make drawings in pairs which express opposite adjectives. This example is Noisy and Quiet.
- Set a timer for 1 minute.
- “Make a drawing which is noisy in as many ways as possible – your pencil should make a lot of noise as it vigorously scribbles and scratches across the page, and the finished drawing should be noisy in the way in which it communicates.”
- Then take a deep breath in and hold it. Let out the breath and relax.
- Set a timer for 1 minute
- “Make a very quiet drawing. Your pencil should hardly touch the paper (imagine it’s the tip of a feather). Hold your pencil far away from the drawing end so you cannot apply too much pressure. Hush your pencil as you draw, and let the end result be a very shy drawing.
- Enjoy the differences between the two drawings – let your ideas bounce off each other. Push yourself to extremes of noisy and quiet.”
Reflections on the Exercise
- 1 minute was a good length for these
- I liked noisy. I switched between different pencils to get different weights and sounds
- I didn’t calm myself enough between noisy and quiet. I rushed it.
- Quiet was frustrating. I couldn’t make my pencil as quiet as I wanted it to be