can you draw?
By jb78000
@jb78000 (15139)
February 12, 2010 8:31pm CST
or paint with any skill? i of course have an amazing talent - as you will be able to tell from the self portrait i created over 2 arduous seconds, scanned and added to this discussion. few people will be able to do better but if you are artistic, even if not as much as me, did it come naturally or was it an acquired skill? and what kinds of things do you like painting?
5 people like this
28 responses
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
13 Feb 10
Yes, I can draw, I can paint, retouch photography, redo furnitures and much more. If painting, I like Mediterranean scenario or islands.
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
14 Feb 10
nothing can match your masterpiece...
1 person likes this
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
13 Feb 10
Hi blue bunny - I agree: an amazing talent!
When I was at school I won a number of art competitions. I won a bicycle, a basketball, a camera and a number of other things. A noted art teacher offered me free lessons but my mother "couldn't afford" the paper and pencils, even though she went on a world cruise a year later.
Mostly I have used my artistic talents in creating large stage props, including a Cobb & Co coach, the Glenrowan Inn (Ned Kelly), a dinosaur cave and huge dinosaurs, a Viking ship, stage backdrops and floats for street processions. I have painted landscapes, seascapes, flowers and abstract but never people.
This Church, made from flat cardboard, was for a street procession.
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@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
13 Feb 10
Well Spalladino, I guess yours was a work of love, and so was mine.
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@spalladino (17891)
• United States
13 Feb 10
That's very pretty cloudwatcher. Your response reminded me of my one attempt at being an artist. There was an art competition at my mother's work which, for some unknown reason, I decided to enter. The subject of my ink and paper entry was a portrait of the guy who would become my first husband and who, at the time. I was a seriously in love with. I worked on that thing day and night and it turned out to be a pretty fair likeness...if I do say so myself. I won an honorable mention...but no prize and I believe there was money involved, which may have been my motivation. After that I returned to drawing a blank...which I do extremely well.
1 person likes this
. nice church - how big was it? spall - might be worth another try if you come across another competition with interesting prizes (i.e. money)?
@EvrWonder (3571)
• Canada
13 Feb 10
I have a natural skill i would say. It seems all of us in the family are very good at drawing and painting. Myself I am very picky so sometimes I ruin a good thing by being a perfectionist. I enjoy drawing and painting horses, unicorns, pegasus, fairies and such. Scenic is good also, deers, lions, zebras. I did take art in school but am not sure if this helped me improve or not. I imagine it did since I did learn some thing which I still apply to this day. I really love creating using pencil, ink or paint.
@EvrWonder (3571)
• Canada
18 Feb 10
Thank you. It is fun. Drawing fairies is very enjoyable. Unicorns, pegasus as well.
I also like to draw flowers, butterflies, dragonflies etc.
1 person likes this
@Torunn (8607)
• Norway
13 Feb 10
I'm quite good at drawing stick people and weird creatures, all of my notes from university are filled with "drawings" of my friends, strange animals and small, chubby elephants. From a two hour lecture in marine acoustics they only thing I've done is draw a very big mushroom and a very small boy coming to pick it. As we didn't look for mushrooms using hydrophones I've got no idea where I got my inspiration from :-)
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
•
13 Feb 10
can i bribe you with a pint of mushroom tea made with cola instead of water? some sections here need artwork. the coven needs a few strange creatures - a panther with wings for starters -, p.e. needs more bunnies, what politics central needs... well is actually too scary so maybe forget that one.
@makingpots (11915)
• United States
17 Feb 10
Very nice self portrait, jb78000.
I enjoy drawing and painting, but I do not believe I was blessed with a natural talent. I'm told my work is good, and have even had a painting of mine awarded a best in show in an exhibit. But I study the art of painting and drawing and work hard at it when I do it. I envy people who have free flowing talent.
When drawing I tend toward very graphic designs with a hint of organic-ness about it. Painting I have no real theme... the award painting was of a clock, painted from a photograph I took in a local park. The only other painting I've liked enough to display is hanging in my bedroom and is of multicolored bowls.
I enjoy drawing and painting, but I do not believe I was blessed with a natural talent. I'm told my work is good, and have even had a painting of mine awarded a best in show in an exhibit. But I study the art of painting and drawing and work hard at it when I do it. I envy people who have free flowing talent.
When drawing I tend toward very graphic designs with a hint of organic-ness about it. Painting I have no real theme... the award painting was of a clock, painted from a photograph I took in a local park. The only other painting I've liked enough to display is hanging in my bedroom and is of multicolored bowls.1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
•
18 Feb 10
i went to your profile to see if you had photos of your paintings, so i saw the pots. nice and professional looking pots. anyway if you are competent at painting then that is a great start, of course you might not ever have a talent to match mine ahem but you should be able to see or imagine something and get it down. i'd love to be able to do that.
@Hatley (163773)
• Garden Grove, California
13 Feb 10
hi blue bunny oh sure by golly I can draw the nicest little stick
men or women you ever saw.Oh sure my kindergarten teacher even patted me on the head.he he. oh and I can make a sun with big fat rays coming down from it and the sun is bigger than the house. Well we cannot all be talented artists.I can write and describe things quite well, but drawing and oh painting oh no, I am really lousy. Like I said I did get as far
as nice little stick men and women but thats all I could do. But I can paint a scene with words, like a summer day with big fluffy marshmallow clouds and the air fragrant with the scent of orange blossoms under a hot summer sun, oh and the sky as blue as a robin's egg. But please nobody make me draw that scene.
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
•
13 Feb 10
hi hatley - i actually do draw like a 5 year old. when i was teaching i used a lot of drawings to explain things and they all consisted of stick figures, of course most of my students (usually about the same age as me) drew the same way which i knew because i included the odd activity that required drawing. there was maybe one real artist per class.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
13 Feb 10
I can draw a blank...
...and often do.
I can also sing a different tune and paint myself into a corner.
...and often do.
I can also sing a different tune and paint myself into a corner.@spalladino (17891)
• United States
14 Feb 10
Sometimes but I'm more prone to dance around the issue...and of course I'm quite fond of spin.
@Wizzywig (7847)
•
20 Feb 10
I see a world of emotion depicted in this. You have drawn a friendly smile and welcoming arms - which speaks volumes about your good self. The simple lines show you as uncomplicated annd unpretentious and the fact that you have omitted the legs suggests that you are loyal and not about to run away if times get tough....
What d'ya reckon? Do I have a future as an art critic??
My artistic talent lies in the fact that my bedroom is in the style of Tracey Emmin 
1 person likes this
@Biomechanoid (2922)
• Estonia
14 Feb 10
I think I can draw a little bit (definitely not as good as you). I like to draw cartoons or design some words in different fonts (like graffiti on paper). I don't draw too often, I usually do it when it's very boring and I have a pen and paper with me.
). I like to draw cartoons or design some words in different fonts (like graffiti on paper). I don't draw too often, I usually do it when it's very boring and I have a pen and paper with me.@Biomechanoid (2922)
• Estonia
14 Feb 10
I mean, I don't draw a real life, like portraits or something, I just like to draw some unreal fairy tale characters or something, they look quite stupid and stuff
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
14 Feb 10
Hello, Judith. I am certainly an artist. In fact, when I have had enough vodka, I am a particular kind of artist. I can't draw, though. Although, in a year or two, I'll be able to draw my pension. 
Don't tell me you still haven't invested in a yellow lightbulb Sandra.
@trruk1 (1028)
• United States
13 Feb 10
I cannot draw, or paint. Interesting story on that subject, though. A few years ago a graduate student asked some first grade classes: "Who can draw?" Everybody's hand went up. "Who can sing?" Everybody's hand went up. "Who can dance?" Same thing--everybody. She then asked some freshman college classes the same questions. A few could draw, a few could dance, and almost nobody could sing. So what happened? Everybody had talent at the age of six. By the time they reached college age, they no longer believed they could do it. I'm a little different. I couldn't draw when I was six, and still can't. I can dance but it is hard to demonstrate online. YouTube would work, but what would be the point?
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@jb78000 (15139)
•
13 Feb 10
oh go on. anyway i think our understanding of what being able to draw/dance/sing means changes as we get older. however i think the ages of the second group might also have been a factor. late teens/early twenties can be an insecure time for many of us. most of them probably could sing, if not at a professional level at least in tune, and most of them probably didn't want to be asked to demonstrate. on this subject culture can also have an effect. i worked in ecuador for ages and everybody, almost, could dance and sing just fine, and most weren't at all shy about it even if they were a shy person, or 15. the same goes here for ability i think but people need several litres of whisky before the singing sets in, and then for fairly obvious reasons they are not at their best.
@Mady2791 (545)
• United States
13 Feb 10
Well, I don't think I'm great but I can manage to do a decent job. I like to draw faces. In school on the side of my notes I would always had drawing of eyes and eyebrows. In 10th grade for Art class I did a poster of the movie: "Lady and the Tramp" and it came out really good. I drew the two dogs eating spaguetti with meatballs. The background didn't come out too good though(for my liking). I didn't have good quality supplies to paint the background which was purple because the dogs were eating at night time.:) However my teacher liked it and he chose mine as well as a few others to put them for display.
1 person likes this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
18 Feb 10
I can sketch a bit but never reqaly got intoit that much. I keep some drawing pencils, a notebook and a kneaded eraser handy but about the only things I ever sketch are my cat or some nearby object. The talent I always wanted was writing but I suck. I really think that's why I'm a bookseller. They say that those who can't write, teach but I just didn't want to be a teacher.
@shutupandbuyit (221)
• United States
15 Feb 10
I once painted a self portrait of my middle finger.
But it turned out looking more like a thumb or a big toe.
I also can draw amazing stick figures...
