Wednesday, February 13, 2008

livejournal post #1

For a while now, I have been feeling like drawing is very limiting to me. Days go by when I feel extremely inspired, and want to create something. But every time I pick up a pencil I have a sort of 'block', I don't have any ideas and I don't know what to draw.
Sometimes I will force my hand to move, but nothing but crap appears on the paper. Usually squiggles or arrows or a bunch of curvy lines which I will then fill-in with the pencil or pen.

So I have resorted to baking, which is something where you can follow the directions, but you have complete creative freedom and if it turns out terrible you might be lucky enough to lick the batter and still, it won't taste too bad.
And sewing. But I have run out of ideas of things to make from material, now. I am kind of limited here, too, because since my machine broke down (and I have no way of getting it to a fixing-majiggy-shop) I am sewing everything by hand.

So far I have sewn a pair of lobster-claw gloves (for my friend obsessed with Dr.Zoidberg from Futurama), two teeth with big eyes and gold teeth (don't ask) and an octopus complete with 'ink' which my flatmate says looks like pubic hair.
Oh, and a zombie. But he turned out really terribly so he doesn't count.

My love is painting. I love the colours, I love mixing the paint and filling in gaps and layering colour upon colour and creating texture with the paint.
In painting studies at Tech, I could never get anything done with people around, I preferred to paint in the solace of my bedroom.
Instead, my classmates would ask me to mix their colours. I loved it. I would try to get a close-enough skin tone with the cheap paints that we had, to get a deep forest green to match the one that had already dried on the canvas, or to give the red a shimmery sheen.

I miss painting so much, but I don't have any ideas of what to paint. I have tried everything from keeping a dream diary to sketching something every day.

I am resorting to schooling *arrrrgghhh!*.

This Saturday begins one of my regular (for 6 weeks anyway) classes, for two hours each Saturday at the local University I will be going to a 'drawing fundamentals' class. Yes, drawing for da mentals. You got me.
It's actually called something like "express yourself through drawing".
I've done all this stuff before, but I really need someone to give me a kick in the guts and send me forth into the World Of Drawing again. I have been retreating for too long and it's time I grew some nads and did something about it.

x

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