Back to the drawing board

After a long-ish break, Make it Mondays are back!

Two out-of-town trips and three guests took (more on which later) me away from the drawing board in the last two months. When I returned, I knew what I wanted to do: teach myself to draw Amsterdam's very own canal houses.

I'd like to say it was a simple undertaking, but I'd be lying. My hand just isn't used to drawing anymore. I like doing fine details, but it doesn't come as easily as it used to. 

While the less-than-perfectly-straight lines of Amsterdam's lopsided canal houses are forgiving to a hand that's learning how to draw again, my houses are definitely leaning a lot more than they ought to!

Still, it was a fun exercise. I love using pens, and bought a couple of new ones over the weekend to get me back into the groove. I rarely use a pencil to make a first draft since I find retracing tedious. With so many different canal houses to draw (it seems no two are alike!), there's a lot of material to keep me going. I will keep at it in the hopes of coaxing my drawing hand back to life. Wish me luck!