Anna C. Pishko, artist and art blogger of DrawingThrough.com recently mentioned, very nicely, that she’d like to see a snippet of my fledgling art therapy journal which I wrote about here: https://wp.me/p9aCpH-3re.
I just can’t bring myself to do that because, so far, it’s pretty personal. I hadn’t envisioned myself sharing it.
However, having gone over to Anna’s blog and having seen her awesome drawings and ideas, I’ve been embarrassed at my own fear of sharing my “art.” I put the word in quotes only because I’m a new student of art fundamentals; I’m in lesson 17 of 54. When I say I’m new to drawing, I really, really mean it. Before this program I’m studying, I could draw nothing – I’m saying NO THING. Now, I actually do have a few drawings of which I’m proud and AMAZED at my ability to accomplish them. Again, I’m very new and engaged in self-guided art education. Nevertheless, I’ve decided to share some of what I’ve learned. Very, very fundamental. Here goes:
After my mother passed, one of the many floundering phases I passed through was wanting to learn to draw. I found the program I’m using to teach myself – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7bv_IAP9gGe8vQYxCtynhjB20llTSuGv – and started. I worked diligently through the first 17 lessons of the 54 before I abandoned my venture. I was pleased with what I was learning and felt I was doing well but grief and all that goes with it tends to toss you around like a sock in a heavy load cycle of a washing machine. Over the last several months I’ve been craving to make things again and I started trying a bit here and there. Then came the quarantine and I rediscovered my sketchbook and felt really sad that I had let go of my studies.
So here I am again but this time I’ve set a goal: to finish the entire series my May 31. You see, as I’ve said in a few of my posts, I have always felt like an artist but never studied art (I studied and worked in the performing arts almost 50 of my 60 years but never visual arts). To me, drawing is to an aspiring visual artist what ballet is to an aspiring dancer: you can proceed without it and perhaps even accomplish a lot but a strong foundation relies on understanding and mastery of, or at least competency in, the fundamentals. Being totally new to this, I won’t be hurt if any artists reading this choose to differ with me on this point; I’m actually very interested in your thoughts on the matter.
In light of all this, last week I went back to lesson 9 and started revisiting and practicing the lessons I did back in 2018. So far, I’m back up to lesson 17 and then I’ll continue on toward my goal.
I’ve mustered up the courage to share my progress. I know – from ALL of life – that it takes a whole lot of effort and bad work to produce a few good things; therefore, I’m experiencing a wave of intense vulnerability I never felt when performing on stage. That’s so weird to me.
Regardless of how it turns out, I’ve set my goal and I will continue on!
Proof of My Existence 
Robin, that is amazing! Your drawings are good, but more than anything else I am super proud of you for finding ways to teach your own self! I tend to do that with a lot of things and find that it helps me learn better for some reason. Never thought much about it until people started commenting oh, but it really is not the easy route! Kudos, and have fun! I may check out that link too 🙂
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Thank you, Kelly. I practice a LOT. The program is truly AMAZING. With just what I’ve learned so far and by practicing, I believe it really does take you from beginner to advanced. I highly recommend it! Re learning, for me it’s a lifetime endeavor. It means I am NEVER bored! Thanks again!
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