action

I watched a YouTube™ video by struthless about the best advice he had ever received about drawing or I suppose art in general. It was fun to watch and his message was great; at least for me.

Feel free to watch the video linked to his name above or read on. Basically he stated that someone pointed out to him that his art was very scattered; that nothing really added up to anything since he was not focused on any one thing; whether that be music, poetry, or drawing. His mate suggested focusing on one thing (drawing in his case) and run with it (in so many words). This comment points out that we can do 10 things in a mediocre way or do one thing really well, if only I (in this case) focuses.

So this spoke to me for a number of reasons. Since I was let go from my job in August, I have been wondering what is next for me. I have basically 3 ideas. (At least I have some ideas!) And again, I have not really focused on just one of them. I mentioned writing a book in a previous posting and that book is about art and how I see it. Then there is art in general and I do prefer drawing right now and I have dabbled with water colour paintings too. I also have one more thing that is not art related that I can easily add in the morning during the week (that will be my "day job" 😉). The YouTube™ video caused me to realize that I too, am scattered.

The blank page (as my friend and I, as well as the video states) is a scary place for artists (and even writers). What do I want to draw (or paint/write)?  What if the scale is off? What if I wreck it? What if, what if, what if, what if...

At the end of the day, just START. Draw anything. Use anything (pen, pencil, crayon). Grab any piece of paper you like. It does not have to be a sketchbook per se. It can be a note pad, it can be an 8.5x11 piece of paper off your printer, it can be your tablet (maybe us a stylus though). It truly does not matter.

I also love two other comments he made: action comes before motivation and thinking is a form or procrastination. Both are true. A person must act in order to be motivated - this is self evident to me. Thinking is a form of procrastination since we think we are busy by just THINKING of doing whatever it is. *whew* rough day, I did LOTS of thinking about what I want to do! 😫

Blah, blah, blah... after all that, the reason I am writing about this now is because I have decided to take the advise that was given to him - draw the same thing everyday for a year. In the process, I figure I will sort out what I really want to do! And to be honest, I cannot say I am committing to a year, heck, I may bail after a week!

I did a drawing on April 1 and that is not what I plan to draw everyday, although it is still a drawing and I love it.

Yesterday I drew a hand; my right hand and from life. I have always loved drawing hands even though I have heard that they are challenging to draw. I have not found that to be the case; perhaps because I have drawn them so frequently; granted, not as of late.

This drawing is not perfect and it is not meant to be. I used the same Toned Gray Paper as I used the other day (which actually looks grey in the image above, not beige). I only used a 3H graphite pencil to draw this piece. I may darken it or I may not. I do not feel it is about being perfect (or what I think is perfect); this exercise is simply about doing. So that is what I plan to do.