Draw what is there :: Dessiner ce qui est là

… one day on the road to Norwood, I noticed a bit of ivy round a thorn stem, which seemed, even to my critical judgment, not ill ‘composed’; and proceeded to make a light and shade pencil study of it in my grey paper pocketbook, carefully, as if it had been a bit of sculpture, liking it more and more as I drew. When it was done, I saw that I had virtually lost all my time since I was twelve years old, because no one had ever told me to draw what was really there!
— John Ruskin, Artist & Observer

So the apple today was there on the table for me to draw… with a graphite pencil. I am trying to figure out how to draw in pencil and as I was perusing Ruskin’s book, and looking closely at his drawings, I can see that his lines are often parallel with some distance between them. So this is my pencil practice. I also tried applying what he says in his quote “to really draw what is there”.

Aujourd’hui cette pomme était sur la table de cuisine, et c’est elle que j’ai dessinée, au crayon graphite. En regardant les dessins à la mine de John Ruskin, j’ai remarqué que ses dessins au crayon sont souvent faits avec des lignes distancées et parallèles. Donc voici ma pratique au crayon. J’ai essayé d’appliquer ce que Ruskin dit: de vraiment dessiner ce qui est là”.

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 8″x5″
Pencil: Graphite 6B and HB
Location: Rigaud, Québec