My 2018 - This is my Hobby: Sketching.
Finding the Beauty in Error.
In the spirit of community-and revealing more about myself- I’m having a crack at this contest thing.
1. Why I’m passionate about this:
While I’m primarily a cook and writer, I draw to help me unwind and see beauty in things I might miss in real life. The highlight of a strand of hair or the soft reflection in the eye of my subject- the tiny pretty parts that compose the whole. (I rarely get it right). Armed with nothing but a sheet of paper and a ballpoint pen, I discovered the freedom to stretch beyond the limits of reality- embracing flaws to illustrate beauty as I see it.
2. How did I pick this hobby, or how did it pick me?
It's a little bit of both, I think. I didn’t grow up in a house adorned with the most stylish furniture. I wore knock-off clothes (and still do). However, there were always beautiful works of art on the walls of my childhood home. Oil paintings of landscapes and wildlife, pencil sketches or handmade clocks and trinkets.
I learned from an early age that there is fundamental beauty in the act of creating- the product doesn’t always need to be beautiful, but the process always is. My journey of creativity started with a colouring book and crayons. I often didn’t like the pictures on them and would choose the pages with the smallest illustrations, so I could use the blank spaces to draw pictures of my own.
3. How long have you been doing it...? Are you learning more and more every day?
I recall one birthday most fondly. I had turned 7 and was given a pack of watercolor pencils and an enormous purple scrapbook filled with the most beautiful thing: Blank pages.
Now- more than 20 years later- whenever I become despondent, I buy a sketchbook and a box of watercolour pencils. It’s never failed to lift my mood.
4. What do I love about it?
Drawing, for me, isn’t about the outcome. I have kept only a few of the sketches I’ve completed. To me, the process means more than the product. Drawing things like hair involves repetitive strokes and it has a meditative quality that has helped me combat weeks of insomnia. It has kept me together when grief has threatened to pull me apart.
More than anything, I love drawing because it helps me remind myself that I can harness something beautiful when things get difficult. It doesn’t cost much, or take much time. I can just sit somewhere comfortable and create.
5. When do I draw?
I draw when I’m happy, and I draw when I’m sad. I recently realised that I’ve done something subconsciously for years. When I’m happiest I draw with a cheap ballpoint pen on any blank sheet of paper I can find. When I’m sad, I buy pencils and a book with beautiful texture in the grain. I realised that- when I’m sad- I seek blues and greens and reds.
Maybe there’s something to colour therapy…
6. Is it something I share with others?
I used to draw to earn money or raise funds for charity- I did a series for an organization called The Modified Dolls. Some of my friends are artists and I’ve met a few at school and later, work. A couple have stayed and we’ll sketch in a café or pack a picnic to doodle in one of the beautiful garden parks Cape Town has on offer.
Despite the friends I've made and the lovely afternoons spent doodling under the sun, I still think drawing is more for me than anyone else. It’s almost like reading a book. I pick a warm cozy spot, put on music or a movie and doodle to pass the time.
7. What is going on in my mind when you do it?
If I’m drawing a subject, I think about colour and form. I think about how to capture a highlight or a shadow without using black or white (an artist friend taught me to use blues for shadows, and yellows for highlights, and it’s stuck with me since.) When I’m just drawing for the sake of drawing though, my mind often wanders and I think about everything.
8. Is drawing a priority?
Drawing isn’t a priority to me- it’s an escape. I am as satisfied with a doodle while on the phone as I am with a piece I’ll obsess over for days. When things get difficult, it becomes more important to me. It allows me to clear my mind and focus on something good, something beautiful. It’s a sort of therapy, I think.
9. Is it Expensive?
It can be - my S.O bought me beautiful Rembrandt and Polychromos pencils I’d never spend the money on myself (and use sparingly when I have a particularly lovely sheet of paper to work with.) For me though, it’s possibly the cheapest hobby there is. I’m perfectly happy sketching on a sheet of printer paper with a cheap ballpoint pen.
10. Am I an expert?
I’m barely an amateur. I don’t know if it’s possible to master creating. There’s always, ALWAYS room to make it more beautiful, more believable. I think there’s something about a hobby I can never perfect- I doubt I’ll ever tire of it.
11. Why you should try it.
Forget what you think you know about art. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. Don’t avoid trying it because you think you aren’t talented or don’t ‘have the eye for it’. No one has to see what you create. There’s something so rewarding about seeing how your brain and your eyes and your hands work together- it’s miraculous to me. Even if it doesn’t look anything like what you thought it would be. There is remarkable beauty in human error, no one will ever do what you do. Without the influence of practice, what you create is fundamentally yours. There’s magic in that.
12. If I were to explain to an alien what drawing is:
Imagine having a way to show your thoughts to the world…
@anomadsoul- Thanks for hosting this contest! It's been fun digging through my old deviant art profile!