Summer holiday is over in Swedish schools, and I´m back at work again. Last week I did a negative space drawing exercise with a few students. I brought into the classroom the most complex item I could think of that I had nearby – my bicycle – and told the students to not draw the bike, only the negative space in and around it. While they were at it, I gave it a try too, and lo and behold, this is the greatest looking bicycle I have ever (not) drawn!
I seldom draw bikes, I avoid them, because I find them incredibly complicated and they always end up looking strange and crooked. But it is good to see that a basic drawing exercise can work wonders on even the most complex subjects. Drawing negative space is a great way to avoid letting the brain draw what it knows, and instead concentrate on just comparing shapes, distances and relationships. I should do more of these.
Also, because I drew the bicycle, I noticed the left pedal is broken, have to fix that. (For some reason I didn´t even draw the right one… I wonder what condition it´s in?)
29 x 18 cm, pencil on regular drawing paper.