Only those who risk going too far
can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot
You know how a blank sheet of watercolor paper, or canvas, or any blank, clean surface intimidates? Yeah, like "are you really gonna paint something worthy of the $5 this sheet cost?"
So, you don't.
I
hate that. That's why I buy boatloads of paper, keep it in piles, and
forget I have it...and buy more. That's so I can paint at random and
without worrying that I'll be 'ruining' the precious paper/sheet as I
have a whole bunch more....and I've forgotten how much I paid for it.
So I'm free to play!
Bear with me...
Recently,
I was walking by my art desk and decided to do something stupid. Well,
more like 'risky' or 'daring' (why am I shackled to the idea that every
drawing must be a masterpiece?). And that was to just grab a pen and
draw and see what happened.
Pulling
on some latex gloves, and dumping a box of oil pastels on the desk, I
selected an unfamiliar ink pen, and drew the first thing that came to
mind: a dragon. It was fun and the results were...ah, ....well, ok.
Er, different, shall we say? I emailed it off to my friend, Emily.
Then, having impulsively done that, I wished I hadn't as the drawing wasn't that good and ...and...
Much to my stunned surprise, she wrote back that she 'LIKED IT'. What?
Read again. Yep. 'Liked it'. Somehow her enthusiasm translated to my
little brain as permission (did you catch that?) to 'risk' doing it
again.
The drawing at the top of the page is my 2nd attempt at this wild combination of media. It's Emily. And yes, Emily is beautiful. And so were her words of encouragement to me.
The
point? Risk. Risk going somewhere new. It's a piece of paper,
Silly. Risk it. You won't find out what you are capable of unless you
do. And you just might like the results.
Thank you, Emily.
Brooke
