My first Still Life

I did this sketch without perspective, by the sighting methods and viewfinders that Betty Edwards describes in her book. I have always been intimidated with drawing from life, I mean, drawing from photographs is different, they are already in 2-D format, or so I thought, but using these methods, drawing from real life wasn´t really that difficult at all. In fact, I am quite amazed (and relieved!) at how it turned out. It is really as she describes it, learning to draw is like learning to ride a bicycle, once you ‘get it’, you can never forget how to again. I did know how to draw but I could n´t really find ‘the on button’ for it till now. Sometimes, it just flows, everything is right, everything fits in and nothing can go wrong and sometimes, its such a struggle, going back and forth and then back again, and accompanied by almost a paralyzing fear for some subjects that maybe I just can´t do it ….. Its this shift from L-mode (left mode) to R-mode (right mode) that she talks about, that makes all the difference between these two extremes (one of that of a flow and one of that of a struggle) in the activity of drawing.

So many meditation practices are about making this shift, really; and its the way she makes you understand (through the exercises) how different it feels being in those two modes, that makes it easier for you to make that shift yourself, consciously. (not that one mode is better than the other in any way, just that one mode is better suited to certain activities and the other mode to a different set of activities). Really, she has given a rare and precious gift to the world, because it is easy to see in how many other areas these techniques can be used, not just in drawing, like maybe in just learning to see or in creative problem solving etc.

Well, so, this is my first still life; I had never attempted it before because well, it becomes interesting for me only when inanimate things are paired with something living, and then to have a plant or flowers painted indoors….. I don´t know …. usually there´s something boxed-in or stifling about it (specially if it has to be dark to get a high-contrast) …. there´s no air, no space, no freedom…….but anyway, this is how I have rendered this to get away from that …….