Going back to dip pen and ink – in this case De Atramentis – and watercolour for this drawing of my Lowe Alpine haversack and Merrell trainers.
Bag and Trainers
Tag: Trainers
Vivobarefoot Recycled Primus Lite III
I like that these trainers are made from recycled materials and, as the name suggests they’re light and flexible. Amazingly they’re available in my size: 13, a size that other manufacturers seem to have more or less given up on.
Toebox
The only problem is that as they’ve got such a minimal toebox they seem to be crushing one particular toenail – the second largest – on my right foot. Possibly there’s a bit of a crease in the uppers when I lace them up. I can’t say for definite but I first noticed that I had a bruised and broken nail after walking a few miles in them.
After that I wore them just for around town or going out for a meal, but so often after I’ve worn them I notice it’s happened again. Perhaps just running up the stairs can be enough to break the nail.
100 day trial
Vivobarefoot do a 100-day trial, so you can return them for a full refund if you have any problems, however I liked these so much that I’ve hung on to them for far longer than that, so these will be going to their Take Back Programme. Last year they ‘received 2,600 pairs of old Vivos, which were refurbished for resale or saved from landfill’.
Trainers
I’ve switched from hiking boots to these Clarks GoreTex trainers recently and I’ve noticed the difference; you flex your feet more in trainers. You might think that would put more pressure on the toes but its the calf muscles on the back of my legs that have been doing the extra work and which feel taut. On one occasion in the middle of the night I got a touch of cramp, so I’m making sure that I keep doing a bit of stretching.
I’ve drawn these in Procreate on the iPad and this time I’ve left the initial pencil drawing showing, which makes it more like a regular still life drawing as you get a hint of the process that went into it.
To make it less self-consciously an iPad drawing, I did consider doing the drawing all on one layer but I thought that the pen might run into the paint as I added it, which wasn’t the effect that I wanted, so it was drawn as normal, in three layers, as above, plus a background layer of white ‘paper’.
Just Visiting
We’re helping out with a short spell of visiting and I could spend a couple of hours reading or writing or drawing from a photograph but I’d rather not cut myself off entirely from what is going on around me so I do what I usually do; start drawing whatever I can find of interest around me.
As I’ve drawn my hands a couple of times on similar occasions, I go for the only other organic subject that I can find; my feet.
The blurb on the box suggested that these trainers are urbane and understated enough to wear when you’re out for a coffee but with their rugged tread and Goretex lining they’re ready should you suddenly find yourself invited to join an adventurous trek across the moors.
How could I resist! That fits my demographic perfectly.
Too Long a Winter
EVERYONE IS getting fed up about the winter. It might not have been the worst but it seems to have gone on for so long, especially as it stretches back to merge almost imperceptibly with a long wet summer.
But it doesn’t have to stop me drawing. I grab the nearest pen, the Lamy Safari that I like to write with and draw whatever happens to be around me. The only thing that I rearrange is my pair of trainers, taking them out from under the coffee table and setting them at what for a human sitter you’d call three-quarter face.
It’s surprising how fascinating familiar objects can be when you really look at them. Different types of trainers seem to have different expressions. Tongues, eyes and a hint of a smile give them an individual character that you’ve got to draw with as much care as you would a face. They even have a sole.
This is the first drawing that I started this evening. As you can see it took me a while to get into drawing. To me this looks rather stilted and awkward but perhaps that’s because the bowls and the vase are standing around like the guests at a party that hasn’t quite got off the ground yet.
I soon realised that the cartridge was running out so popped upstairs for a refill.
According to a Horizon documentary that I watched last week the optimal way to increase your creativity is to take on a task which is moderately demanding. Sitting there doing nothing doesn’t free up the creative side of your brain as you might think it would do and nor does getting involved in a task that demands all your concentration.
So drawing a bookshelf, with those repetitive but slightly different shapes, must put you in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone for creativity when you’re drawing. Not too demanding but sufficiently engaging to get the creative parts of your brain ticking over.