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What shall I draw, oh, what shall I draw? When picking a subject, it’s easy to think that Art (with a capital ‘a’) has to be all about Grand Themes and sweeping drapes and ladies in half-swoons and empires crumbling beneath a mighty army. Well, if you wait for an army to pass by on horseback, you’ll be waiting a long time, and your drawing skills won’t be getting any better either.

There’s a well-known saying in writing that you should ‘write what you know’ and I’d venture that it could be just as easily applied to art. Look around you. Even the most ordinary daily objects are worthy of your attention. By drawing them, you’ll be bringing a kind of honesty to your work, saying something about who you are and how you face the world, and that is an important quality in any kind of art, be it visual or written.

Equally, even something like this pot of pens, above, is composed of ellipses and lines and light and shade, and provides a good training ground. So when you do finally see your Grand Theme, you’ll be ready for it.

Have you voted for Draw Anyway in the Brighton & Hove web awards yet? If you do so now, you can ignore this message for the next three days, absolutely guilt-free.