While I don’t pretend to be an expert on human relationships, I do have a little experience with visual relationships.   That’s the subject of this lesson.  How do things relate to each other ?  John Muir said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe. ”   Drawing is the same.  In order to express an idea, we need to understand how one object relates to another.   How close is the apple to the pear in the still life?  How high is this building compared to the next one on this street?  How close is that tree or how far is that hedge?

Chances are you won’t have to look far for examples  – utensils in a drawer, leaves on a tree, clothes in a closet, even that  pile of “stuff” on the table by the door.  No subject is too complicated if we remember one rule:  draw one thing at a time, then draw the relationship of the next item to it, and the next and the next until it’s all there.

A simple way to practice this idea is to draw a bookshelf.   Start with the shelf itself, then the first book and the next and the next.  With each new book you can look to see how high it is in relation to the previous book.  Is it wider or narrower? Is it pressed up close or at an angle? Just draw what you see.   Here, I’ll show you – take a look at this shelf of art books –

Remember, start with the simple, work up to more complicated subjects.  It might take a little patience, but I know you can do this!