{
  "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1",
  "title": "Torch & Trowel Field Notes",
  "home_page_url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/field-notes",
  "feed_url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/feed.json",
  "description": "Articles and teaching notes about screen-free drawing, scaffolded art instruction, and helping students build real drawing skill.",
  "author": {
    "name": "Matt Tolbert",
    "url": "https://www.tolbertm.com/"
  },
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/screen-free-homeschool-art-curriculum",
      "url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/screen-free-homeschool-art-curriculum",
      "title": "Lines in Control: Why the First Lesson Starts with Lines",
      "summary": "Pencil control, line variety, and the reason Drawing Field Kit Vol. 1 begins with simple marks.",
      "content_text": "Unit 01, Lines in Control, helps students feel what a pencil can do before they take on complicated drawings. The lesson builds intention through straight, curved, tapered, repeated, and varied lines.",
      "image": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/assets/field-notes/technique-tips.png",
      "date_published": "2026-07-07T13:30:00-04:00",
      "tags": [
        "Lines in Control",
        "pencil control",
        "line variety",
        "Drawing Field Kit"
      ],
      "external_url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/screen-free-homeschool-art-curriculum"
    },
    {
      "id": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/middle-school-homeschool-drawing-lessons",
      "url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/middle-school-homeschool-drawing-lessons",
      "title": "Seeing Empty Space: Look Before You Draw",
      "summary": "Negative space gives students something concrete to observe when objects feel complicated.",
      "content_text": "Unit 02, Seeing Empty Space, teaches students to look at the shapes around an object instead of drawing from memory. This helps beginners slow down, compare, and observe before they correct.",
      "image": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/assets/field-notes/shapes-forms.png",
      "date_published": "2026-07-07T13:20:00-04:00",
      "tags": [
        "Seeing Empty Space",
        "negative space",
        "observation",
        "Drawing Field Kit"
      ],
      "external_url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/middle-school-homeschool-drawing-lessons"
    },
    {
      "id": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/when-a-student-says-i-cant-draw",
      "url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/when-a-student-says-i-cant-draw",
      "title": "Building Simple Shapes: When the Drawing Feels Too Big",
      "summary": "Simple shapes and construction lines turn a complicated subject into visible next steps.",
      "content_text": "Unit 03, Building Simple Shapes, helps students stop wrestling with the whole object at once. They learn to find basic shapes and use light construction lines as a way into the drawing.",
      "image": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/assets/field-notes/checklist.png",
      "date_published": "2026-07-07T13:10:00-04:00",
      "tags": [
        "Building Simple Shapes",
        "construction lines",
        "drawing foundations",
        "Drawing Field Kit"
      ],
      "external_url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/when-a-student-says-i-cant-draw"
    },
    {
      "id": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/why-guided-drawing-helps-beginners",
      "url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/why-guided-drawing-helps-beginners",
      "title": "Why Blank Pages Freeze Beginning Artists",
      "summary": "A blank page looks simple to an experienced artist. To a beginner, it can feel like being asked to solve every drawing problem at once.",
      "content_text": "A blank page is not actually empty. For a beginning artist, it is full of invisible decisions. Guided drawing narrows the first few decisions so the student can begin, practice one visible skill at a time, and build toward independence.",
      "image": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/assets/field-notes/shapes-forms.png",
      "date_published": "2026-07-07T10:00:00-04:00",
      "tags": [
        "guided drawing",
        "beginner drawing",
        "homeschool art",
        "screen-free learning"
      ],
      "external_url": "https://www.torchandtrowel.com/why-guided-drawing-helps-beginners"
    }
  ]
}