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Drawing as Meditation

Fabriano Sketchbook in Orange
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Fabriano Sketchbook in Orange

This orange notebook is my reward for getting my tax organizer to the accountant.  I love the way the cover picks up different shades.  In 2004, I took a drawing class at the community college, as part of my year of experimenting with different mediums, on my way to making mosaics.  I was one of those “I can’t draw” people until I read Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and that book gave me the courage to take a class.  

I slowly stopped drawing as I became engrossed with mosaics, but I came across a book on Urban Sketching at the library, and suddenly I was ready to draw again.  Then I heard Danny Gregory on NPR’s Here and Now, talking about drawing as a way to connect with your own creativity, and the present moment of your life in his book Art a Before Breakfast.  

Wheeled Mosaic Nippers in Green Pencil by Margaret Almon.
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Wheeled Mosaic Nippers in Green Pencil by Margaret Almon.

I have been sketching each day, and for those moments, I am practicing seeing what my subjects look like, not what I assume them to look like.  I find my mind races ahead with judgements like, “Those wheels are perfectly round because wheels are round” or “This is too hard to draw.”  It is a relief to go back to looking at what I am sketching, and follow the contours.

 

2 comments

  1. minnette albrecht says:

    You have so many artistic talents. None of which I possess. Loved the drawing. Perhaps someday I will put pen to paper and write.

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