Drawing and Painting
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Vocabulary
  • To doodle (verb) - to draw pictures or patterns while thinking about something else or when you are bored.
  • To wander (verb) - if your mind or your thoughts wander, you stop thinking about the subject that you should be giving your attention to and start thinking about other matters.
  • Sporadic (adj.) - happening sometimes; not regular or continuous.
  • To scribble (verb) - to write or draw something quickly or carelessly.
  • Tone (noun) - a form or degree of a colour.
  • Tint (noun) - a small amount of a colour.
  • To critique (verb) - to give an opinion or judgment about a piece or work, book, film, etc.
  • Novice (noun) - a person who is not experienced in a job or situation.
  • In that respect - in that matter.
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Questions and answers
M: So let's talk about painting or drawing. Do you like painting or drawing?

R: Not really, these days. I doodle when I'm, I don't know, when I'm in dull lectures to keep my wandering mind active. But that doesn't really count, does it?

M: Have you ever learned painting or drawing?

R: We used to do it quite often in school, though I was never particularly good at it. It was always a bother to make things realistic or colour inside of the lines. Since then, I've made sporadic attempts at learning and trying to draw, but nothing formal in the sense of actual lessons.

M: Is it easy to learn how to draw?

R: I think that depends on how much time and patience you have for it. In addition to whether, well, you have good teachers and role models. I had none of that. So it wasn't very easy for me. Although I do remember a time when I was very young, that it just came naturally to me. I'm sure it does for some talented people, but most of us just have to work at it.

M: How often do you paint or draw?

R: Well, like I say, I sometimes doodle and scribble in lectures, but that's about it, really. I can't remember the last time I made a serious effort to draw something or someone. It must have been years ago when I was trying to depict a character from one of my books. And even that wasn't a particularly great effort.

M: What do you like to draw?

R: Well, my doodles usually have sharp edges and dark colours, although that might just be because all I have is a like a fine tip pen that uses black ink. So that just means these are the easiest things to draw. But mostly there is no pattern. It's just random shapes.

M: What do you know about painting?
R: Just to teach it to small people, really. We talk about mixing colours, and how tones, and shades, and tints can be made and changed, and how to reflect on work to improve it next time. So if you wanted to talk about that, then I'd be okay. But if you wanted to talk about the history of art or how to critique it, then you'd be out of luck because I'm a novice in that respect.

M: Thank you, Rory! Now you've painted a very rosy picture of the vocabulary and grammar we can use about painting or drawing!
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