Keeping My Drawing Head Above Water

"I despise resistance; I will not let it faze me; I will sit down and do my work." Sommerset Maugham

Steven Pressfield in the War of Art shares a helpful notation: "Maugham reckoned that by performing the mundane act of  sitting down and starting to work, he set in motion a mysterious but infallible sequence of events that would produce inspiration, as surely as if the goddess had synchronized her watch with his."

I devoted the past three years to earning a MA in Communication and Leadership from Gonzaga University. I don't think I will ever regret the time or money invested in this educational adventure that included two trips to Europe. I also took a solo road trip to Whistler, BC--a graduation gift.

After graduation, I pursued court mediation training at UNM Law School as an excellent means of  "looking to my laurels" (as contrasted with resting on them). I continue teaching at ENMU-Ruidoso in the Art Department, but have been able to add communication courses to my schedule. I'm in the process of building an online design course for Fall 2014 Semester. I am also doing pro bono service mediation in magistrate courts in Clovis and Albuquerque. The mythical vacuum is that...a myth.

Today, I was spiffing my profile on Linked In. One of the sections asks for a website. I'd pushed this blog back on a remote burner with no place or intention in my planner. The last post was in August of this year. I'm glad to be back after many months of neglect.

I've not accomplished any major works--larger paintings or shows-- over these last few years either, but I've followed through on my determined intention to sketch daily and paint when possible. I am pleased and sane because of it. (Thank you,Danny Gregory http://dannygregory.wordpress.com/ ). I found Maugham's ideas about inspiration four years ago. So many times I've just put pen to journal; no other impulse or inspiration; doing that deed kept my drawing head above water.

New and Never Dull

Intentional acts of beauty and attention give unexpected life to the staled and ignored people and things in my world. 

The forest floor--the ferns and undergrowth captured me when I was less than five...We lived in Juneau. Our home was bordered by mountains, the Gastineau Channel,  and these incredible forests that were home to mosses, grasses, mushrooms, insects, and layer upon layer of surprises..new and never dull.

roadside finds

"The physicality and silence of drawing served over the years to restore 
focus or bring comfort in difficult times"

...Roger Lipsey in Angelic Mistakes: The Art of Thomas Merton

Drawing is a large part of my life. My sketches are not monumental pieces and some embarrass me and almost convince that I don't have a bit of skill after all these years. But I keep returning to a page each morning and after drawing something especially ordinary, life is better and the day is started properly. After reading and finding a place of internal quiet, I go on a five mile walk.

It's easy to notice the lovelies--the tree bark, the wild turkey, the flowers, the seed pods, but about two months ago I started noticing the discarded man-made stuff on the shoulders of the roads. The first morning I stuffed two pockets with my treasures and almost every day I bring something back and put it in the growing collection on my desk. I wonder about many of the pieces...their history and why they landed where they did but mostly I am taken with finding beauty in unexpected places.

Intentionality of Drawing

The semester is over. Grades are almost posted. Drawing must be an intentional act for me...not a thing that happens on a whim, but calculated into the day. In February I began a daily morning sketch/journal time that has been lacking in my day for a while...The drawings are usually quick and the painting in watercolor.  

Design II is Going Online

The Design II class is beginning a blog that will provide a record of the projects we have done this semester and the semesters to come. I will post the link to that blog in the next few days.

Art: An Essential Part of Education

"....the creative arts, the branches of art scholarship, the various departments of art are to be recognized as an essential part of education, a part without which the individual will be deemed less than educated."

 Ben Shahn in The Shape of Content

Reading Ben Shahn makes my work feel supremely important. I am absorbed with what happens in the classroom. I am passionate about facilitating the creative process and all it entails...the quiet attentiveness..the revelation of  seeing...and the internal movement into the realm of the brain where the work of creating art flows unhindered.