In The Details

  I am a global learner. I like to see where my learning is going and where it came from. My joy is seeing the whole and I admit I don't have much patience for the details. The two art classes I have taken rocked my reality. They were polar opposites to each other. One was a mixed media class that stressed painting and collaging without concern for the end.  The process was all. How I struggled against the impulse to see the ending, to hold out for the vision I saw in my head.

   Now I am in a classical drawing class. I have drawn at least 50 cubes this week. I am tempted to say "damn perspective". I mean that literally. I want to stop the constant correcting to see the right perspective. Below is a second drawing I sent to the teacher. He encouraged us to send our drawings so that we don't practice incorrect principles. As you can see by his white lines, I did not see correctly. My cubes somehow are more rectangles.

  My eyes are crossing in the task of seeing the cube from underneath, straight on, and from above. Almost always I say I'm done when that nagging voice says, "You don't have a cube yet."

   What I am learning about myself is not earth shattering or even new. I am reluctant to persist to perfection. Good enough may not cut it in all things. I am going to persist against the tendency to wrap it up when I am almost there.

    I find going back to mixed media painting a great release. Color and texture is pure joy after ruler and pencil. What I am hoping for as I struggle to draw is a better understanding of the underneath structure of my painting. Steffon tells us that drawing is like sculpture. I hope to see more accurately and be more patient with the details.