I truly believe that practicing, and more importantly, enjoying the process of honing a skill is the key to being successful at it, regardless of the end result. I think a lot of what puts people off is that the image they
may see and want to create is at odds with what spills out onto the paper with
the first doodles/paint sketches.
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| Cute cat brooch by Lucy for fi&me |
"Rooted in drawing is the desire to create..."
If, like me, you are on a creative journey, you might want
to ponder this question? Is being creative essentially about finding the
essence of what you love to do?
For me the drive to create has always been found in drawing.
Whatever medium I use to craft and create this is where I
always return. For the most part, it feels like home. But it can feel, on
occasion, a slightly scary place because it is exposing. What if I'm found
out? That my human characters aren't
perfectly figurative, that proportions might be out? That really I'm not THAT
good!
Aaargh! See how
quickly self-doubt can escalate! Ha! (Quickly beats those 'mind monkeys' off
with a stick!)
I truly believe that practicing, and more importantly, enjoying the process of honing a skill is the key to being successful at it, regardless of the end result.
When Lucy and I started to attend craft fairs with our
vintage inspired business Fi&Me we were exploring how far we could take
our creativity. We were having fun and using a whole cohort of techniques that
we had been taught over the years from various wonderful people in our lives,
family members, teachers and crafts people whose work we admire.
It was fun! For
example, I love to make soft toys based on my designs and inspired by mid-century
design. I learnt to crochet, make basic origami and stitch felt embroideries of
my Babushka Doll illustrations. But gradually over the 5 years that our little
collective has existed we always came back to one thing...drawing.
Rooted in drawing is the desire to create. On a personal
level drawing helps me test out my design idea before I commit. This can apply
to all art forms, not just art and craft. Last week, for example, I happened to
turn on the TV to see Andrew Marr (himself an accomplished draftsman) interviewing
Sir Anthony Sher. It was fascinating to
hear him talk about how he uses drawing when developing a character, in drawing
he discovers more about them;
“I do portaits,” actor Sir Antony Sher told
the BBC’s Andrew Marr. “I often find that I’m discovering how a character feels
by drawing them.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02mjh09
If I had to choose one aspect of my practice and I could
only do that forever, it would be drawing. No contest. But why choose? Drawing
has the power to enhance many inter-related art forms.
What is your favourite medium? It might be needle point or
collage, or water colour might be the easiest thing to warm up with and get
your creative juices flowing?
Learning to be ok with this is the key I believe. Believe it
or not, quite often what I think I will draw and what I actually draw are very
different but I've learnt to be ok with that and then all of a sudden you might
find you have created your own style anyway!
:) x
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