Seeing.

When I first started drawing regularly again a couple of years ago I tended to limit myself with the things that seemed simplest. I knew I couldn't draw a face to save my life, so I rarely tried. Hairy beasts were a problem, so I wouldn't show my efforts. Long hair of what seems to be one colour was always a problem, it just looked bad!

Thing is, no one taught me how to see properly when I was drawing. I still don't sometimes, especially when I'm so consumed with what is going wrong in the drawing I forget to look up and just see. Squinting to take in the colour variations and subtle light and shade, shapes and true proportions, it is something that is still coming with experience. 

I'm making an effort to draw daily now and it is something that I really miss if I do not do. If I can't find a subject matter, then I'll have an improv day, where I'll just make something up. Usually they go down the best! They tend to be highly coloured painted pictures with patterns and simplistic figures, involving what I feel is little skill. Not that I'm being condescending towards those that like the pictures, they just aren't my most technical and at the end of the day it is just nice to know that somebody actually likes my work.

The chimp I drew below was one of my first successful "long haired beasts". So successful that it was given to a friend as a Christmas present. It still hangs framed on her wall and she often reminds me how much she loves Mungo as she named him. She tells me his eyes follow her around the room!

So I guess the moral of today's story is, learn how to see properly. Don't rush through life and just assume what you are seeing is true. In fact learn how to listen as well! It is a valuable asset of a person to really be able to listen without judgement and presumptions instead of just waiting for their turn to answer.

Mungo - Coloured pencil on paper.