Live & Learn: Expressive Drawing

The many people who long to draw—but feel too intimidated to try—will rejoice at the wonderful first entry in this new series from AARP. Live & Learn: Expressive Drawing is packed with solid, friendly, hands-on instruction, as well as inspiring images, to stimulate the inner artist.

Nationally recognized arts educator Steven Aimone teaches an accessible style called expressive drawing—a freeform, abstract approach that anyone can learn and enjoy. This style emphasizes line and mark, rather than rendering a specific object, which, for many people, can create barriers to self-expression. Exercises start off simple and quick, encouraging readers to work on instinct and feeling, while the later ones focus on detail and refinement. The author covers elements basic to all drawing: line, mark, shape, texture, and tone. Then he leads you through “Play” and “Build” exercises that re-create the workshop experience, allowing you to explore these elements firsthand and produce richly satisfying drawings. Each chapter also includes an uplifting profile about someone who explored drawing later in life.

Worthy of any coffee table or studio shelf, Live & Learn: Expressive Drawing features more than 120 images of works by master artists from the past and present including:

• Pablo Picasso
• Robert Motherwell
• Susan Rothenberg
• Jackson Pollock
• Ellsworth Kelly
• Magdalena Abakanowicz
• Paul Klee
• Elaine DeKooning
• Brice Marden

And many more

Written by experts in their fields, this AARP book offers the encouragement and instruction you need to explore your creativity and try something new—at any age. Steven Aimone is a nationally recognized arts educator, accomplished artist, and and author of DESIGN! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople. Each of his workshops encourages participants to consider drawing, painting, and design as an exciting visual language that focuses on expressing inner states of being. One of the most popular of these forms the basis for this book, focusing on elements of line and mark in drawing.