DANCING WITH TULIPS
I'm still on this dancing with the cosmos theme. This is a sample of just a little dance I did with a beautiful bunch of yellow tulips that my neighbor gave me last week. They just make my spirit dance with the teaser of Spring. Even though it's not officially the first day of Spring, doesn't a display of tulips make it official enough?
Ever since I attended Nancy Culnome's retreat at Bell Ranch over a year and a half ago, I have intended to do a drawing a day. She got us going every day by doing a simple drawing, mostly contour. She promised that doing this daily would make us get better and better at drawing. Well, guess how good I got. Up until this drawing of tulips I've probably done maybe five drawings. I did this one a couple of days ago. Maybe doing a drawing a week might be more of a goal to aspire to. Drawing isn't my favorite thing. But ya know what? Once I just do it I actually get lost in the lines and don't mind it so much. And when it's all done, I really like the simple, kinda primitive shapes the lines create.
I think tomorrow that I'll give the tulips another whirl and get the new favorite "NeoColor" crayons out. I will lay in some shapes. Then I'll go back over the areas with water/watercolor brush to form more defined flowers, leaves, and stems. Maybe after it dries I'll go in with a black marker and do contour lines. Not sure yet. I'm excited to add color to the drawing. Of course anyone who knows me wouldn't be surprised.
Another thing about drawing is it takes time. I have trouble devoting time to just sitting and drawing. How counter is that to the idea of being an artist? That's just plain crazy thinking. I am the same way about taking time to meditate. I know it would help me in so many ways but....but what? Isn't life about making quality time doing...well doing what? Doing things like the art I love and slowing down enough to mindfully doing it. I think I need to go meditate on this.......
I'll post my yellow tulips in full color when I get the drawing done.....now? Tomorrow? Does it really matter when? Oh my, I'm getting way to cosmic. I'm off for a bath, a read, and a bed.
I like the simple lines in the tulip picture. Have fun adding color!
ReplyDeleteI love your drawing! It actually kind of reminds me of an artist... Patricia Polacco? I like it though, very nice and Joyce-y.
ReplyDeleteNeo-crayons! What! That sounds amazing! So they're neon? Have fun with those, they sound eye-jiggling-
As for the meditating question, the way I think of it is that the list to life never ends. So when do we stop? Never. So what is the role of meditation in life? I think it is the meat of life. I don't look forward to going to work or doing tedious duties everyday. I look forward to the little things in between that make life worth living. Meditation is a waying of "stopping" in the every moving world with out actually doing it. Plus it helps us live more "in the present". It's hard to when there are a lot of things that we have to just get through. We try not to dwell on them, so when it comes time to enjoy the little things, they are just overlooked. Not intentionally, but out of habit. So that is what meditation, and art for that matter, do for me and others as well. Art is a way of stopping to enjoy the simple pleasures and experience the emotions that are often overridden. I wonder if that answered your question. Well I hope that it at least gave you some input or something to think about.
Well, loved the drawing! Keep going, I'll work on doing it once a day too.