Notice and wonder

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

A radio from 1933.

1. 1List five things you see.
2. 2What was it for, and who was it for?
3. 3Why would anyone shape a radio like this?

The AWWW Wall · fur

A Red Rose, about 1880

Horatio Henry Couldery painted so many cats that people nicknamed him Kitten Couldery.

1. 1How does he make fur look soft with paint?
2. 2Why might someone in 1880 pay for a painting of cats?

The AWWW Wall · look slowly

Cats, by Jules Leroy

Four kittens are making trouble.

1. 1Look for one full minute without talking.
2. 2Where does the painter make your eye go first? How?

The AWWW Wall · a painter's trick

Girl with Dog, 1873

Gustave Walther painted a tiny dot of light in each of her eyes. It's called a catchlight, and it makes eyes look alive.

1. 1Cover the dot of light with your finger. What changes?

Step 1 · Look more than you draw

Follow the edges

1. 1Put your eyes on one edge of the typewriter.
2. 2Move your eyes slowly, and let your pencil follow.
3. 3Look at the paper only now and then.
4. 4Wobbly lines are fine.

Step 2 · Find the big shapes

Squint

The details disappear and the big shapes are left. This 1949 Motorola is a box with a circle inside.

1. 1Draw the box, then the round screen, then the details.
2. 2Shade it: find the darkest dark and the lightest light.

Step 3 · Back downstairs

Draw a pet from a painting

1. 1A circle for the head, triangles for the ears.
2. 2An oval for the body.
3. 3Fur strokes that follow the way the fur grows.
4. 4A tiny dot of light in each eye. Sign it.