Drawing meditations

Three time lapse process videos

Hello lovely subscriber. I’ve mentioned drawing to you many times before and talked about how beneficial a practice I believe it is for anyone who is willing and able to hold a drawing tool. So many folks have told me they can’t draw and I don’t subscribe to that, unless there is a physical disability involved. This negative view usually stems from an expectation of realism as the only appropriate outcome from a drawing session. Often this is accompanied by the idea that those who are “good” at drawing have a gift as opposed to the more usual reality of many, many hours of practice.

While a realistic rendering of a subject may be the ultimate goal for some artists, drawing is so much more than that in my opinion. After all most of us have a camera in our pocket these days, so recording what something actually looks like using pencil and paper is perhaps no longer necessary. Although it can still be great fun for sure.

For me drawing is about the act of drawing (as opposed to the outcome) and I find it is one of the most effective forms of stress relief. It quiets a busy mind giving it something else to focus on and I find it very easy to drop into a flow state when I’m playing, particularly with line work. In fact, if I don’t draw every day, I feel twitchy and unsatisfied in much the same way I would if I hadn’t had a walk and fresh air.

Continuous line drawings are always my go to method for warm ups and comfort. I enjoy other approaches such as negative space drawings, but I find something soothing in the continuous contact between my arm, hand and the substrate via the drawing tool that ticks all of the boxes for a meditation.