Drawing ..... on different levels

Perhaps because drawing, or rather mark-making, is such an inborn human urge and something that all children do, we tend to associate it with a form of play. We see someone working at their easel, squinting at the scene before them, surrounded by paint and paraphernalia and we sigh with envy. What a wonderfully relaxing hobby they have – how lucky they are to just dab paint around and make pictures that sell for small fortunes!
Of course the truth is very different. No-one just picked up a brush and painted amazing pictures straight away – well, maybe Picasso did, but very few others.

“Getting good is hard work; there is a reason why the work ‘painting’ starts with ‘pain’” Clint Watson

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Art is hard work, like anything else worth learning to do well. It is the learning, practising, studying and downright slogging that reels you in like an addict. The next painting will always be better. 

Art can be practised at different levels of course. Used as therapy it can be revealing and helpful in releasing buried emotions. As a hobby or pastime it’s a great way to fill time and to socialise, but ambition often creeps in and the amateur artist starts to improve by putting more thought and time into their work. 

Some have an inborn gift for drawing, or seeing, as I have said before. They are obviously more inclined to be creative. Others can learn to see and enjoy being creative too, if they want to, but we all need to put the work in to learn the different aspects of making a good picture, such as composition, tone, design, perspective, colour etc.When it starts to come together though, when we feel we have made some progress, what a source of joy that is! 

Drawing is “a source of happiness and even inner strength not because it is easy but because it is hard” Andrew Marr ‘A Small Book About Drawing’

“You should keep on painting no matter how difficult it is....... unless it kills you, and then you know you have gone too far” Alice Neel

PS - just a reminder that I am still showing a collection of paintings 'Music, Dance and Landscapes' in the beautiful setting of 
Palazzo de Piro, Mdina

As the title suggests, this exhibition shows my work with many different genres of music and dance, plus my recent landscapes

The exhibition is open every day and evening, including Sundays until the end of August. 

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