Drawn to Drawing

I love to draw. And I love to paint even a little more.

There’s something so amazing about becoming immersed in an imaginary world – to create something inspired out of thin air.

Well, it’s really not something out of thin air in my experience, but rather playing with someone or something larger than me. You could call it higher self, God, or the Muse, but there is something there that I am working with -- no, playing with.

Someone once said that half of creating is just showing up. Every Sunday afternoon I either draw or paint. I show up.

It takes a few minutes to get into the mood.

Sometimes I have an idea, based on a happy memory, or I noticed something pretty, like deep brown cattails against a yellow meadow.

It’s the feeling that I am drawing. The less you need to put into the picture, the better, because it’s the essence I am after, like a Hiaku poem in just a couple of lines.

If I don’t have an idea, I just start drawing. Soon, the picture starts drawing itself – some benevolent creative, inspiring power is helping me. Often, when I am done, it is hard for me to believe I actually created what I did.

Hours pass in minutes.

I work on the whole picture at once. This is a sign that “I am there.”

The feeling is exhilarating and deeply satisfying.

How primordial – to create something.

When it’s going really well, I am drawing quite fast, like I know the whole thing at once.

Perhaps you want to doodle with a fine point, black pen. Shade it here and there with parallel lines.

I think you’ll feel the Muse playing with you too.