12/30/11

A renewed resolution with pencil in hand

"In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing."


Vincent van Gogh
Letter 136
24 September 1880


As we leave the hustle and bustle of the holidays and enter the zone of the New Years resolution, I find myself reflecting on what to focus on for 2012. As an artist, all through the year, we are challenging ourselves with resolutions to improve and create new and different images. My husband has joked with me, "oh, I see, now you are in your Yellow period," as I get obsessed with intense yellows and oranges. The next few months may lead to the Blue period, and so it continues, new colors, new subject matter, new mediums. One goal for me in 2012 is to draw every day, to sketch with sharpie markers big and bold, sketch finely with micron archival pens, to integrate watercolor with my marks, to draw as an end in itself without planning the next painting. Drawing is the foundation of all great art and leads to fresh ideas, not unlike, for example, brainstorming for marketing concepts. I will study with new intensity, the great old and new masters like Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and my favorite Vincent Van Gogh and draw, draw, draw. Wish me persistence and focus!

2 comments:

I welcome your feedback. Please let me know what you think!