Five subjects for illustration.

If you love drawing and painting from the comfort of your armchair, here are five subjects you can sketch:

1. The family pet, especially if it is sleeping--they make excellent life models.
2. People in the room--people never sit still, so this will teach you to draw quickly.
3. The fireplace--this will teach you about perspective.
4. Plants--how many shades of colour can you see?
5. Pictures in the newspapers or magazines--this will help develop your compositional skills.


My 83 year-old father drew and painted this picture of my sister's dog, below.




From his armchair, too. I think it's fantastic. Arthritis hasn't prevented him from picking up pen and brush...