Wishing I could fly my kite all the way home from the beach, I’m enjoying the last full day here. There are so many drawings I’ve not been able to share with you…perhaps I can create some sort of video montage for you when I get back home.
But not before I fly a kite one last time at the beach. 
Day 1 at the beach: In less than half an hour of being out on the shore, I chance to look down and see a sea stone…beautifully rounded and smoothed by sand and water. This sets me on a course to find and collect more sea stones and sea glass thru the week.
Day 2: Bent over for much of the day in search of these jewels in stone and glass, I find nothing.
Day 3: Once again, hunched over in search of the elusive sea glass and stones, only to be empty handed at the end of the day.
Day 4: Having abandoned the search for these items, I see a glint of pale blue glass in the sand on my morning walk. Hmmm…
Day 5: At the start of my morning walk, I zero in on a promising mound of shells thinking surely this will be a place to find a stone or bit of glass… A good while later, I abandon said patch of promise with a “humph” and not five paces away, quite all by itself, the glint of a lovely piece of white sea glass greets me.
Evening of Day 5: Sitting by the ocean, thinking through my ever present search for what I’d like to draw next…I consider another self-portrait of sorts. In drawing “me” drawing on the shore, I find my shadow more compelling than the bits of me I can see… feet, legs, sketchbook, hands.
Day 6: Testing a growing suspicion that I may find what I’m looking for if I don’t look so hard, I set out on my morning walk. Something catches my eye, I bend over to see what it is, and I find it isn’t actually glass, but rather plastic . I see next to it a brown, gray stone. I cast it aside with the thought that it’s just an ordinary rock, but then quickly retrieve said “rock” thinking that it is every bit a sea stone, and why should I not accept and receive the brown and gray ones just like I would the white ones?
All of this searching and finding this week at the ocean has caused me to wonder about life: Do we search and search for what we’re looking for, only to find it when we stop searching? Or does it then find us? Do we have a tendency to search in places that seem right, only to find what we’re looking for in the most ordinary, unusual, and perhaps lonely places? Do we dismiss a gem-in-the-rough just because it doesn’t quite fit our idea of what “it” should be? Do we find that what surrounds us is more compelling than what we are? Do we have the thought that the shadow we cast may be more compelling than the inward search for who we are? What is it exactly that we’re searching for? Beauty? Eternal Truth? Peace? Sea glass? Sea stones? Shells?
And so many more delicious questions to think and muse upon. Other thoughts that float in and out of my mind and heart, like the waves upon the shore:…If you seek me with all your heart you will find Me…A well appeared where Hagar had not seen…His voice was not in the thunder and lightening, but in the still, small, whisper…I am the one you have been looking for…and , I am found.
It’s crazy what the ocean washes up on the shore, isn’t it?
I was in my morning walk “zone”, lost in thought, when I became aware that I was being watched. Looking up from sand and shells, I saw seagulls, hundreds of them, lining the beach where waves meet the sand, all of them standing looking my direction.
It was as if they had tweeted each other to meet up on the Oak Island shore to watch the Parade of People. There weren’t too many of us human sorts yet, but enough for them to watch. Some walking, some running, some pushing strollers or cycling. Some were bent over, bums in the air shell hunting. It made me think of a Far Side cartoon I once saw of people in a pasture with cows on the outside of the fence looking in…too funny to imagine what the gulls might be thinking of us.
And each time I looked over at them, the gulls would turn their heads, averting their eyes, trying to be incognito I guess. I walked along like this all the way to the water tower, seagulls all along the shore watching me, maybe even cheering me on, like people do when runners are in a marathon, or cycling in the upcoming Tour de France.
By the time I got back to the beach house they had all dispersed.
Perhaps they went to a different section of the shore to watch the parade of people.;)
With her palette of blushes, eye and lip colors, my 5 year old neice looked searchingly at my face and said, “Now let’s see…”
She commenced to giving me about 5 different layers of lip color and liner, two shades of blue and green blush which she carefully blended, and a trio of bright blue, purple and pink for my eyes. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, she placed both of her hands on either side of my face, assessing her work, and finally pronounced, “That’s just right!”
The tender exchange of of this young artist to my blank canvas face, made me wonder…If a child paints your face in rainbow colors…is it because she sees you this way, in bright happy colors?
I like to think so.
You never know what a trip to the beach with your husband’s family will bring.
“A day at the beach is like silk in your hands…” I dunno. Even though there’s sand and salty water, it’s just how it feels to me…silky, blythe days unfurling in color and doodles.
P.S. I’m using my ipad for blogging, including taking the pictures. The color is not nearly so vibrant as the actual page in my sketchbook. Oh well. It’s fun anyways!
Friday mornings at the Factory here in Kernersville is one of the highlights of my week. There may be only one other than myself, or there might be four of us, but we have such fun drawing and talking together. I’m incredibly behind in showing you the drawings from these sessions, but here’s one with a sign out announcing one of the shops’ sales. The courtyard area accesses several wonderfully quaint shops. Splurges is one of them. Every time I’m drawing here, I think that shop name is perfect for how I feel: what a splurge to be able to draw in such a lovely setting.
We have taken ourselves to other spots downtown to be sure: the Bistro B alley and Harmon Park (again, so many drawings I’ve yet to share!). But our favorite spot thus far is the Courtyard of the Factory. We are itching to get inside the building to draw as well, but we’re saving that for the hot days that are rolling in as I type. Unfortunately I won’t be able to draw downtown this Friday or the next, as I’ll be splurging on a beach!! Hint: “splurging” means “drawing”!! So you’ll likely have some of my beach drawings to put up with look forward to.:)
I hope you can Splurge a little today…and tomorrow…and the next day…with pen and sketchbook in hand!
A couple of days ago, Maddie and I sat out in our backyard, in the cool morning, to draw. I had several sketchbooks (as I do when using watercolor, so that I can move on to another drawing while one is drying), pens, watercolors; and she had her big sketchbook, pencil, and markers. When she is finished with her drawing, I’ll show it to you…so wonderful!
Lately I’ve been captivated (once again) by watercolor and all its oozly, wazzly goodness. I’m enjoying making images with ONLY watercolor. No line. Just washes and a few calligraphic strokes here and there. But the line & watercolor version stands out to me today. I was thinking about why as I went on my morning walk. I know you won’t be surprised at where my thoughts went:
When I draw first and then add watercolor, I am free to splash the color around any way I’d like: outside the lines, splashy, sloppy, or as minimalistic as I want. It’s as if the lines are a foundation, a structure, a scaffolding on which the watery colors can hang or stand upon. Without the line structure, watercolor needs to maintain that structure itself, even if it has a free look about it.
This seems a lovely picture of our lives…when we have a solid foundation, a good structure or scaffolding for our minds & hearts, we have much greater freedom to swoosh, splash, or hold back as we like. There’s a sense of rootedness. A feeling that we’re anchored in some way and that anchoring allows us to fly around in dreams. This image comes to my mind here as well.
So I thought I’d share it with you, dear reader. It is always my hope that your art will speak volumes to you about life and living. That it will give you more and more inspiration for living your life fully!
I’ll still be swooshing watercolors around without lines…I wonder if they’re invisible on my paper as I paint. Hmmm…something else to think about!!
The thing that’s so captivating about lines is that they have the power to transform the most ordinary of subjects, into something truly extraordinary!
Color has this power as well. But there’s something mesmerizing about following the contours of a clematis vine growing up a mailbox that seems to alter what’s before me into a lovely abstraction. At first glance, you might not readily see what the lines are describing. But then it shows up, and you can see the mailbox, the flowers, the number one at the top of the post.
Line has a language all its own…simple, direct, succinct. It reminds me of Julia Child and reduction sauces…a simmered down substance whose flavor is powerful, yet hangs on a very ordinary thing…a sauce. How did I get to sauces and Julia Child? Oh me. You never know where a “line” will take you…:)
Lesson #12: Be A Beginner…Always!
For our FINAL lesson in this series on Drawing Your Life, we come full circle to where we began. This actually is the KEY to continuing. The WAY to keep on chronicling and celebrating your life in a sketchbook is to ALWAYS be a BEGINNER.
Life has a way of upsetting the cart so-to-speak. We’ll be in a groove of regular drawing in our sketchbook and wham…something happens that interrupts that flow. Work, relational needs, circumstances can come crashing in on our good habits we’ve worked hard to establish. And when the air clears, the fog lifts, or the dust settles from whatever it was that interrupted our habit; we can find it VERY DIFFICULT to start again.
This is when we need to have the grace to be a BEGINNER. To Draw Up A Chair once again, in the midst of our lives no matter the rubble around us, the altered terrain, or the fresh page; it requires a humility and willingness to start all over.
Think back to when you first began to make art or to keep a sketchbook of your life. Maybe it was only recently. Maybe it was years ago. Remember the excitement…the curiosity… the gotta-find-out-all-I-can-about-it attitude… the thrill of putting pen (or pencil, or paint) to paper … the fun of it all even though you had no idea whether you were “good at it” or not… the wanna learn, wanna be, wanna do, insatiable appetite. Somehow, you have to get back there. You have to regain at least some of that Beginner’s Mindset.
Life’s interruptions deal a hard blow to our enthusiasm. In response to trying to begin again, we may find ourselves saying: I’m tired. I won’t be as good at drawing as I was. I’m out of the habit. I’m weary. It’ll be boring. It’ll take so much of my time. Life’s too heavy.
The thing about the above responses, is that they are merely blocks. Creative blocks are very real, powerful forces to be reckoned with. But if you will recognize them as “blocks”, rather than “truths”, you may be able to see them as something you can actually blast through with a little enticement.
*Tired? Weary? Draw what it feels like to be tired. Draw what’s making you weary.
*Afraid you’re not as good at it? Grant yourself grace to be a KID again, to be on the starting block. And watch how quickly you move right back into where you left off…only with new eyes.
*Out of the habit? Set yourself a goal to DOODLE once a day. Doesn’t matter if it’s in a sketchbook or not. Just one Doodle a day. Keep them. Collect them. Then collage them onto the first page of a new sketchbook (or the page where you left off before Life took over.)
*Bored? Think of something you haven’t tried, or haven’t done much and give it a go in your sketchbook. If you were drawing in pen before Life’s interruption; then switch to colored pencils or markers. Try it all! Make use of time you may be doing something else. The above sketch was made WHILE WATCHING the Tour de France one year…having to catch images as they flew by on the screen was definitely NOT boring!
*Takes too much time? Hogwash. Do the Daily Doodle. OR sit down to draw for 5 minutes only. I have a feeling you’ll find you sit for longer than that without even realizing it! Draw during the “margins” of your life…the waiting rooms, the soccer games, the staff meetings, etc. You’ll be amazed how much time you actually DO have to draw, if you look for the odd minutes stashed here and there.
*Everything feels too heavy? Make pages that feel light and airy…marks that are ephemeral and joyful. Or, if it feels like it would be cathartic: Make pages that feel heavy…marks that seem laden with the gravity and burden you’re carrying. Who knows? You just might be able to move some of that heaviness out onto the page instead of lugging it around.
***Maintaining a Beginner’s Mindset will keep you happily Drawing Your Life. And it will have the added bonus of keeping you from becoming too “big for your britches” as we say ’round here. Even if you’re a professional artist whose list of accomplishments and sales reaches the ceiling, even YOU will benefit from remaining a BEGINNER at heart!!
A Final Blessing:
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing”
― Camille Pissarro
It is my sincere hope, that you will begin again and again to LOOK FOR and DRAW the beauty in your life!! My vision for you is this: with sketchbook in hand, you will comb through the weeds of your life, the unassuming, unattractive, unordinary places of your life, to see the richness that lies there. Like a kid learning a new step, playing with a new toy, discovering a new path, I pray that you’ll take hold of this endeavor with renewed fervor each day. May you grant yourself the grace to be a beginner…ALWAYS!
**All images in this post (with the exception of the above Genevieve drawing) are the Beginning Page(s) from several of my many sketchbooks! Even beginning a new sketchbook can be a “block” through which we have to blast! I’ve heard of some artists starting on the second page, just to bypass that “first-page fear”. Others just plow ahead, splash it on, get it going!
Just Begin. Again and Again.:)
THANK YOU for following along with these Mini Lessons on Drawing Your Life. I have loved every minute of crafting them and I hope you have/are/will continue to enjoy them as well. Remember: you can pop in to the series via the heading at the top of my blog titled “Drawing Your Life Mini Lessons”. Please revisit these lessons over and over again for renewed inspiration. Cheers and Happy Drawing!
