quietly creating

Continuing like that procrastinating teenager (I never was) cramming to finish an English assignment the night before: here I compose another mostly rushed blog post before the calendar turns to the next month.

Even though the text is rough hewn, the thoughts have been mulled over for awhile. I’ve been thinking about negative space quite a bit this last month. The space one considers when building a contour drawing via observation; the space one takes up socially when one fails to see the positive in situations; the space in a sketchbook that grows when one’s thinking space is taken up by concerns for others and not for carrying through with a drawing practice. All of this negates any quality of emptiness. However, I continue.

My most favourite non-art activity is contour drawing from observation. I used to be able to reach a flow and connection trying to assess the tension between where the object edge ended and the space around it (negative space) began. Eventually, I realized this exercise was going nowhere except towards pure frustration (comparing my sketchbook entries to real art – framed and ready for a show or such) and I stopped. There are all sorts of reasons to judge it as non-art, but recently, I am learning to care less what I call it and enjoy the process when I can. May was full of daily contour observations. June not so much.

Professionally, May and June melted together. It’s a hectic time of year in the teaching profession and I observed one particular interaction both as accurate and troublesome. Synthesizing the encounter to the essence of the message: be more positive.

As a YET to be confident growth mindset personality, of course I railed against that observation even as I knew it was accurate. There are all sorts of reasons one can stay firmly entrenched in negative mind states – I had a fairly long list to argue my stance. In any event, it is a myth that artists that live fraught internal lives make lots of art (or non-art). My sketchbook pages were quite empty in June.

Thanks to insight gained from various sources (including my recent education on how children use memes), I realize that focusing only on the negative will not produce drawings or opportunities for positive human connection or even peace of mind.

Onward to July and better ways of filling emptiness.