Drawing and mindfulness: beauty in the ordinary.

Since I was about 16, I have enjoyed sitting in the landscape to draw.

To begin with, however,  I would spend more time searching for the most picturesque view that I actually spent more time searching than drawing. I was so keen to Produce a picture to please my audience (such as it was). What I dind't understand, at that young age, was that a beautiful drawing  does not come from the objects but it comes from heart and mind  of the artist.

It is probable that anyone can draw an apple. It is possible that some can draw it perfectly in the style of a botanical drawing. But for that drawing of an apple to engage you, to fire your imagination, it takes total emersion and complete surrender on the part of the artist. Only then with that image of the apple evokes thoughts of the summers of childhood, the warmth of harvesting in an orchard heavy with the heady scent of ripening fruit.  Russet and gold, plucked with a remaining stalk and a clinging leaf, falling into a generous basket brimming with sweet goodness. The painting of an apple sitting on a napkin casting a long shadow from the late afternoon sun might even make your mouth water.

This level of concentration can come when the artist is able to look at the apple as if he has never seen one before; to take in every tone, every curve, shadow and highlight and describe it using pencil, pastel, paint or collage. The artist must suspend all previous understanding about the colour, texture and shape of apples and simply draw what is seen. 

While drawing, the artist may experience thoughts about the apple. He may wonder where it grew, what kind of landscape the tree stood in, what kind of person harvested it and how it arrived at the place where it now sits. If he picked the apple himself, he will experience the emotions and memories that the activity involved; emotions that do not evolve into words, emotions that can only be expressed by the movement of his hand and the manipulation of the materials. 

The result may be a work of art that we can call beautiful and it will be a beauty that each one of us experiences within;  a beauty that doesn't need words for expression.

A lifetime of drawing has revealed to me that it is similar to meditation. When I read about the practice of 'Mindfulness', I feel as if I am reading about the practice of drawing.  Many of my students agree that they experience many of the same benefits through drawing as they do through meditation. To draw well the artist has to be completely 'in the moment', to exclude all thought of the past and the future, to only be concerned with 'the now'. 

I always found meditation to be very difficult. The act of concentrating on my breathing, or staring at a single point in an attempt to count to ten to the exclusion of all other thoughts was more than I could manage. I was a failure!  But these days,  I find it easy to slip into a state of sub-consciousness to quieten my mind. This is a technique I have learned through drawing rather than attending meditation classes.  Apart from the obvious benefits to my mental health, I have  also become more relaxed about my drawing practice and realised that it is better to bring out the beauty in ordinary things than it is to seek out beauty for its own sake. Ommmmm!