In the sketchbook: peace, hope, & trust

late night sketches

sometimes, when i can't quite fall asleep. i get out my sketchbook...well, one of the twenty or so i have stashed in various places...and i sketch ideas for future projects, random stuff, write poems, ideas for stories, plan out events, or think of how to conquer the world...i'm good at that one...the planning part...follow through...maybe not...but, whatever...tonight, i'm sketching flowers and sun shapes...inspired by a recent commission..a commission that i am grateful for on many levels, but tonight it is because it made me think and inspired me...

five minutes here, five minutes there

so today's quote of the day was:

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art." -- Paul Cezanne

And since i'm working in my sketchbook, doing simply drawings and watercolours paintings of sunflowers, dragonflies, and lotus flowers...i ask myself...are these really art?

In college, i grew to understand that part of the art is the emotion or idea the work conveys, and not the skill behind it...when something just matches your couch, it isn't necessarily "Art" so much as "design"...

i struggled with this idea for a long time...in fact, it really caused me to shut down artisticly for a while...i felt like i couldn't please anyone with my work...if i tried to make it too thought provoking people didn't like it...and if i made it simply something nice to look at, others didn't like it...there was no satisfying anyone...

but i also came to understand, that this is just LIFE....

that no matter what you do, there will always be critics...and what is important, in the end, is you own sense of satisfaction...

Did you do your best? Are you happy with your work? Did you accomplish your goal?

In the last year, these questions are the only thing that have helped me keep going. 

So when i paint flowers, dragonflies...yes, they are simple....but they give me joy...they give me five minutes to breathe...and they are part of my meditation...part of my connection with the universe.

When i look at nature, i am awed...flowers, and insects are incredibly amazing...and i think too many people don't take the time to observe the nature and the world around them...

Thinking about how a sunflower starts from a seed and becomes a towering heavy-headed beauty full of geometric design and intricate petals, is just amazing...absolutely amazing...

So, when i work in my sketchbook, i'm not sure what emotion i want to evoke or base my work on...but amazement is what i have in mind....

a peak into my sketchbook

"work is love made visible" Kahlil Gibran

this is what happens when i get a few minutes of quiet time...i get to draw...nothing extensive...nothing complicated...just simple drawing for the sake of drawing...nothing more, nothing less...It is in the simplicity that comes the joy, the sense of satisfaction that i was able to do the work that gives me joy..