A Different Kind of Drawing

  

Day 366 – I started a new drawing 2 weeks ago and it was pretty good, but still far from finished. The problem is that I am not good enough yet to know how to go about it; how to bring it to the next step. And this is why I am taking this class. Our teacher walks around all the time and talks with us, where we are, what direction we are about to take, and helps if we are totally stuck. So I took a picture that was ok and two hours later I was so happy with it. He showed me where to put emphasis, where to shade it more to give it depth, every 15 minutes or so he’d come around see the progress and help with the next step. At last he put it against the wall and we both step back and he said “this is really an art” and went along to describe what he felt the drawing is showing, the despair and desolation, post WWI he thought. In short, he liked the end result and gave his winning sentence – you can sign your name to it now, which means, I think you are done. I was so happy. I know it is not an easy subject and it is not pretty in the regular sense. It really portrays great sadness, extreme poverty, despair… but it is a very strong drawing and I love the fact I managed to bring all this out.  Again, it is my best piece yet, which means I am improving all the time. I get more comfortable with the medium and I learn to capture feelings on paper, which is really great. Everyone else in the class is painting landscapes and I am drawing people, not pretty people but instead full of expression. I draw stories without words. I keep saying how much I love this class, and I feel so lucky for finding it. I have no words to describe the richness it brings into my life; it is such a meditative process. I wrote about it once before – time stops outside of this classroom. For two and a half hours I am completely in the present, totally centered; and it is the best feeling in the world.

  

I am thankful for a wonderful drawing class. I am thankful to my amazing art teacher, Dan, who guides me and every one of us to be the best possible artists we can be. I am thankful that after years of talking about the hidden artist inside me I found a way to express it and make it better all the time. I am thankful to the Great Creator for the gifts He bestowed on me.  I am thankful for my best picture yet.