Notes from the Hatch: A Room with a View

Sunday, August 25, 2024

Nicole Edwards, Emerson’s Bedroom (2010)

Hello lovely people,

Holly here!  I’ve been really craving lightness lately, and so when I started looking for a way to bring a sense of play to the Hatch, I knew where to look: my kids. And an Andrew Wyeth painting. But first things first!

Several months ago, my seven-year-old asked me to do a “Draw Along” with him, which is when someone (in this case, a podcast host) dictates a drawing to you. We stretched out on our stomachs with blank sheets of paper and a tray of markers and obediently listened to the speaker as he told us to draw a field, then a tree and a sun, some flowers. After a few moments, my curious four-year-old asked for his own paper and joined in. I found it so fun, so freeing, such a RELIEF to have someone hold my hand through a creative exercise. I didn’t have to think, I just had to execute. And the results were completely charming—our individual creative choices were on full display. No one’s was better or worse, only different.

So! That’s what we’re going to do now. I’m going to dictate a drawing to you. Some things to know beforehand: first, no one in the entire world ever has to see this drawing if you don’t want them to. Second, it isn’t possible to make this drawing “good.” The order in which I’ll give you elements to draw will mean things will overlap, your proportions might be off and you might make a mistake or two. It truly doesn’t matter.

A guided drawing exercise—

1. Flip to a blank page in your journal.

2. Draw a large rectangle, on the page, leaving a slim border between the edge of the page and the edge of the rectangle. This is a wall in a room.

3. Now, draw a window on the wall. It can be any shape, but make it large enough to see through. Draw some trim around the window, or a ledge along the bottom, or panes inside of it if you wish. 

4. Draw floor covering. A rug, wooden planks, stones. 

5. Draw a curtain rod. Draw curtains. Make them long or short, ragged-edged or symmetrical. Give them a pattern, a texture, a color.

6. Draw a place to sit. It can be a stool, a chair, an overturned bucket or box. 

7. Draw a plant somewhere in the room. 

8. Finally, draw a view in the window. It can be detailed–a pebbly ocean beach, a tree on a distant, sun-dappled hill, or as abstract–a wash of a color, a shower of leaves.

9. Now, take as much time as you need to add color or detail.

You did it! I had the idea for this particular guided drawing after I stumbled across the painting Wind from the Sea by Andrew Wyeth. I think you’ll agree that there’s an entire story encapsulated in this painting, and while our quick journal sketches will come nowhere close to this masterful work, I feel confident in saying that each and every one of you has captured something worth writing about, which is what we’re going to do next.

Scroll down to choose from a selection of journaling prompts that will hopefully lead you down a path of imagination and play. Happy hatching!

In gratitude,

Holly

P.S. By the way, if you’d like to share your drawing (no pressure, but it really is so much fun) please put it in the Isolation Journals chat, where you can find dozens of drawings already, done in real-time during the Hatch.