Basket Case: A Step-by-Step Guide to Drawing Baskets

It’s not a euphemism. I’m seriously obsessed with drawing beautiful baskets.

For a long while I’ve wanted to do a project featuring the art of native Southwesterners. The indigenous peoples in (now called) Arizona create dazzlingly beautiful crafts. As a child in Tucson, I grew up surrounded by these artifacts, and my appreciation has grown over the years. Now I’m activating this appreciation into a series of drawings.

Beautiful Baskets

Here are the first four drawings in the series. These baskets were created by artisans of the Tohono O’odhom Nation, and are part of a private collection.

The Tohono O’odham — People of the Desert — have always lived in tune with our surroundings. Our culture and our very survival have depended upon that ability, and this closeness to the physical world around us is reflected in our basketry.
~ Terrol Johnson, The Language of Native American Baskets

Basket drawings in pencil & watercolor, by Kate Rutter.

How to draw a coiled basket

People ask how these drawings are made, so I thought I’d share the process. It’s a lot of fun to do these; if you’re inspired to give it a go, it’s a pretty basic pencil-sketching and watercolor-painting process. The secret sauce? Observation.

Here’s the step-by-step.

1. Start with direct observation. There’s no substitute for this! First thing I do is look deeply at the basket…how was it made? What holds it together? What is it made of? What does it feel like? What are the interesting or distinctive lines and shapes?

Examine it, turn it over and around, measure it, make notes and really work to understand it. Informational sketches are done at this stage…I don’t start the final drawing until I think I really “get” the basket. I don’t live in Arizona any more, so I often must do the final drawing without the object in front of me. So I take reference photos and use them and my notes in the final work. Direct observation and notes are key.

2. Sketch the schematic. Since I’m terrible at freehand drawing circles, I use a template (aka: trace a plate), then measure to the center and draw an axis at each mid-point. Then, counting the number of rounds in the basket, I segment the axis into the correct number of whorls/rounds. Starting at the centerpoint, I lightly sketch the rounds. The first few times I also added the pattern at this stage (you can see it in the example below,) but then I learned it was more accurate if I added the pattern later in the process.

The initial schematic, with accurate number of coiled rounds.

3. Pencil in the strands. The baskets are formed by sewing a covering strand made of yucca around a coiled element. As a result, each strand has a piercemark which creates a zig-zag line between each coil. (This is the kind of insight you get with direct observation.) Sketching the shape of each strand creates the woven feeling and gives the piece the needed complexity. I start in the center, and erase the schematic lines as the strands are filled in.

This process is, shall we say…meditative. It’s important to have different shapes, in slightly different sizes, but still have an overall consistency. Keeping things randomized takes some attention. It’s a restful way to spend ~30 minutes.

The individual coiling rounds sketched in, keeping the pattern randomly consistent. (#paradox)

4. “Basketize” it. There’s not a better way I can describe this step. With a pencil, I focus on sketching the coil joins and punch in dark pencil lines to give contrast and a sense of light and shadow. Again, keeping it random but consistent is the key. The purpose is to break up the uniformity of the strands and give a rough material quality to the coils. I squint my eyes to see if it’s looking “basket-ey.”

Adding contrast and breaking up the uniformity of the earlier stage gives the basket its rough material quality and creates the characteristic zig-zag joins of the coils.

5. Draw in the pattern. Counting carefully, I start from the center and darken the strands that carry the main pattern. Although counting coils is important, it’s crucial to also step back and make sure the overall pattern is true…the balance of the pattern around the entire basket must be accurate.

Add the pattern by darkening selected strands.

6. Add color in layers. This series is pencil, with added watercolor for color. Starting with the lightest maize/yellow tone, I glaze the entire piece, leaving some whites for sparkle. Then I add successively darker colors, finishing with the deepest brown/black for the pattern.

Depending on the specific basket, I might use 4–6 shades of color for the light areas, 2–3 for the medium areas and 1–2 for the darkest areas. The last step is to punch in the darkest blacks, usually in the pierced coil areas, so that the strands have a sense of depth and shadow. The finishing touch is to add a shadow under the whole basket.

Color brings the materials to life and highlights the graphic artistry of the woven pattern.

This basket painting is 6.5″ x 7″, and took a total of 1 hour, 20 minutes to finish.

Whenever I get to spend time with these baskets I wonder about the artists who wove them. Who were they? What was their life like? What were they thinking about? How did they come up with the pattern? What was hard about making this basket? Was it fun? I’m so in awe of their artistry. I wish I could thank them for the beauty they’ve created.

I can’t thank them in person, but I can honor their work by capturing it in line and color.

ps: I’m seeking info on how to identify traditional Tohono O’odham basket patterns, and I’m also on the lookout for different techniques for painting weavings and baskets. If you have info to share, please post a comment.