November 9, 2023
Attached is my latest in a series of 5 x 7 drawings. It's funny that I never know whether to title my work or leave it as 'untitled'. If I name it something, I will no doubt forget in a day what I named it. Maybe this one could be 'Couple in Tub' or 'Couple of Tubbies'. : > )
When I began this drawing, as I often do sometimes, I just let the drawing develop itself. I draw random lines and shapes and try to let the drawing develop on it's own. As I worked on the drawing, I did not like how it was going, the direction it was headed. I thought to myself, I should just tear it up and toss it. I just didn't like the drawing. I probably would have done just that, but a thought bubble came into my head, one that I may have mentioned before. I have known and often pointed out to my students that you get or should get potentially good to great ideas, but what so often happens is that we don't take or push the idea far enough. In other words, at the point you find your drawing looking 'bad', you want to chuck it, but if you spend more time with it, continuing to work on it and see where it goes, you might just come up-or is it out?-with a pretty decent work of art. You might not, of course. You might still wind up chucking it, but, at the very least, you will have learned something, grown internally, added to the sum total of your knowledge. All the work that you do now, is the result of all the 'things' that have come and gone before. Something to remember.
Another point is that some people are not going to like or respond well to your work. You, yourself, might heavily criticize your own work. In a way, every time you put your work out there, you run the risk of getting slammed. I wish I had thicker skin. I guess the bottom line is you just have to keep going.
On occasion, I find myself looking at some beautiful piece of work, and I think, "I could never do that." And, maybe I can't, but have to remind myself that I can only do what I can do. I like to think there's room for everyone at the party. Life would be so boring, if we only had a handful of artists in this world, like eating your favorite dinner everyday. Even if you love eating it, you would soon get bored with it.
Something else that comes to mind is this: we focus and learn what we like. If you like portraits, then you probably spend a lot of time on it, and hopefully, getting better and better at it. And, if you like landscapes, or fantasy, or whatever, then that's what you are focused on learning and getting better at. So, if you find yourself not being very good at a particular area, because you haven't spend a lot of time on it, that's okay. Let your work stand on its own. The viewer can choose to like it or not. Try not to let negative feedback 'ruin your day'. Maybe an hour. An artist tends to be (maybe always to an extent?) sensitive to comments, etc. That perceived 'weakness' helps makes you the artist that you are.
Lastly, regarding the attached drawing, I haven't decided whether or not to add color to it, or leave it as a pen and ink drawing. Hmm. What do you think? If I add color, I'll post it here. Thanks for reading.
