An Adventure in Art Journaling
Developing eyes to see
I’m taking a break from social media and have found that without it, I actually do have more time available to me. One small thing that I decided to add to my evening routine is doing a tiny drawing (accompanied by brief notes) that illustrates some aspect of my day or current life stage.
It has been great fun so far!
There is only one problem.
I’m no artist, and I find it frustrating to have what seems to be a clear mental picture of what I want to draw, only to have it turn lumpy, crooked, and disproportionate when I translate it to the page.
I do suspect that I am not a completely lost case when it comes to drawing. I seem to be okay at copying things, which makes me wonder if perhaps I don’t have as clear of a mental picture of what I want to draw as I think I do. I’ve also noticed that when copying existing drawings I am often surprised by the shape and movement of the individual lines and the effect they have on the picture. This makes me feel like I don’t even see things properly. Things are made up of different stuff than you expect sometimes, I guess. It often is that way in life. It shouldn’t surprise me that art mimics that.
I need to figure out how I want to spread things out on the page. I didn’t enjoy always trying to figure out where to put the next entry, and I don’t like how it kind of all runs together.
One thing from my week that I chose to draw was the Lord of the Rings-themed house that I dreamed about one night.
In my dream, some good friends of ours purchased this house, and one (of the many) impressive and specific details about the house was that it had a famous Tolkien quote painted on the side of it in a distinctly elven font. The quote was, “The work wears the shoes.” This brought me much amusement throughout the week whenever I thought about it. One time I even just sat on the couch all by myself laughing out loud about this “Tolkien quote” that I dreamed up.
I’m excited to continue with this little drawing project! Not only because it’s fun to see what I can produce on a page, but because I’m curious about what I will see and take in while paying closer attention to the curves and corners of my daily life.
Love this, Jasmine! I think it was your husband who told me one time that it's okay to look off of something to know how to draw it, and I thought well, if a real life artist says that, I as an amateur one certainly will believe it's fine for me to operate that way.
And, the "work wears the shoes" quote is so funny! So good, too, in its almost-works-for-a-perfect-quote sort of way. :)
Love this!
I'll miss you on social media, but breaks are a good thing. I draw quite a lot, but I always look off of something. I find your reflections on not really knowing how lines are put together interesting. I've never thought of that before, but I think you're right. I would love to develop my own style a little more and learn to draw without a guide all the time.