To make work in the drawing studio, the first task is to battle the deceptions, the delusions, and the daily habits each person carries with them. This is not baggage that can be easily checked at the door. Much of this is woven into the sense of self and belonging each us clings to. There is nothing wrong with connecting to a community but our new world of being constantly connected to a device weaponizes our attention and engagement as a social glue binding us to a collective belonging that upends the entire point of drawing in the studio.
Drawing develops an attachment to being present in the moment through engaged attention. The monster we have loose in the studio today is loud and voracious, the worst of the delusions— drawing for ‘fans’. This is not an attack on fanart or actually having fans of your work…useful! This is about where your attention is focused when you are drawing in the studio. Drawing for an audience is about sticking to the script, staying within the lines, and moving through a landscape you know...the well beaten path.
But actual work needs to be ugly, mistaken, and awkward. It needs to have a bad day, slip on a banana peel, stub its toe…be human. Sometimes a drawing looks like a seagull has flown over and downloaded its worst insult on the paper, and at other times it’s best to stop the senseless killing of paper. But, this is the process, not expecting instant results and being lost is a feature not a bug.
When everything outside of the studio is calling with it’s siren song of share, share, share…it is hard to not look over your shoulder when you’re putting a line on paper. But resist the noise and carve out a place to do some work that challenges you and welcome the misbehaviour of a bad drawing or a lousy painting, they may just lead you somewhere you’ve never been.
What I have been thinking lately! Well put.