1. Draw an object in a realistic way. Really see the object and then draw what you see. Don't assume you know! Sit down with a simple shape like a vase or a peach and start noticing. Is the stem of the peach round or does it taper? Does the stem stick straight up or does it lean in one direction? Keep seeing and drawing; you may be surprised at what you discover.2. Photograph patterns. A walk in the woods is a great place to start. Take shoots of fungus, tree bark, or leaves. Print the image out in grayscale and see how many patterns within the pattern you can find. Trace the lines to see what shapes you can find. How might you use these lines and shapes in your artwork?
3.Accentuate the negative.
Take a piece of paper and randomly draw connected lines on it. Photocopy the paper and then with a set of drawing pencils or crayons, color in what you perceive as the negative shapes on one of the pictures. On the other picture, fill in the opposite shapes. See how your perception of the drawing changes. Try this exercise with your photography.
Have fun discovering things and see how it translates to your creative projects. I did masters work in DANCE. So much of what I experienced in dance translates to my jewelry designs. For instance balance, variety of textures, asymmetry, color and shapes I learned to work with in choreography ends up influencing my jewelry.
