Tribute To Perseverance

I haven’t sat down and drawn; I mean seriously hand-drawn anything for about 25 years. I’ve sketched, doodled, scratched indecipherable structures and stick-ish figures, and somewhat cute caricatures of creatures imagined but not much more. I could blame it on not having enough free time or having too many distractions from life’s busy work. But it really just boils down to being too lazy, not taking the time, and not making it a priority. It was just drawing after all, right? After I started writing this blog and looking on the internet at other artists, I realized that the art that artists created came from a smoldering fire from deep within. This fire built a vision in their mind’s eye – and this fire released and bore, through artistic expression and application, creations for all to see. This passion fills them with purpose and excitement. I felt it rising. I was inspired to start up again. So, in essence, I removed some cobwebs from the right side of my brain and dusted off some art supplies for some much-missed usage. I did such, and again, they lay aside for a little while.

But one July morn, I sat in front of my waterfall, and with the splashing and rushing of the water, my eyes wandered over the painstakingly crafted lush landscaping that Scott and I had created. Our piece of heaven on earth nestled in the midst of a dry, very brown, and baron Nevada hillside – softened my soul. My eyes landed on the metal crane statue that stood upon boulders within a nook of the stream, and this was it! I felt compelled to draw it. I was set to do a proper job so I sat drawing until I was somewhat satisfied with the results. It took three hours to produce the below drawing.

Halfway through creating the sketch, I felt impatient, itchy, shifting about, looking for a reason to get up and take on other more pressing aspects of life’s goings-on. Why was I not already done with this? This is good enough, right? I was getting bored and Nancy was getting antsy. It quickly dawned on me (because I had honestly forgotten) that creating art takes a significant amount of time and patience and this was the very reason why I had not worked at it for so long. This whole episode brought me back to Jono Dry’s video, “I Owe My Career to This Yearly Ritual” – one of the few artists I had found online that really stood out to me. Not only does he seem humble and real, but he holds an acute awareness of what it takes to make a masterpiece and humbles himself to it. He draws eyes – the windows to your soul. These drawings are large scale incredibly detailed pieces of magnificence. So much so that you see the fibers within the cornea and the sclera. And the piece de resistance, a “hidden” gem purposefully replacing the highlight of the eye – a nude man seemingly ashamed of his constitution. He revealed that his art takes a significant amount of time to complete and he has struggled with it as well. He stated that he, “Became so bored it became a tribute to perseverance.” I love that he said this. It is something that needs to ring true in our minds when we face relinquishment of any sort. Perseverance, along with bravery, is key to achieving your end goal.

This piece shown, took over a year, drawing on and off, for two months at a time, for four hours a day. Every two months he put in; he felt no sense of achievement. With each tiny piece completed in the expanse of this detailed work, he still felt he had nothing to show. He felt disenchanted. It was hard for him to keep it fresh and interesting. The more pressure he put on himself to be more conceptually rich the more he felt trapped. This realization forced him to relax and find joy in the process again.

This makes me pause and take note of my earlier impatience and rethink my approach. Once I relaxed and lost myself in the process rather than impatiently waiting for the end result, the more I enjoyed each leg of the ride. I have since started some study on drawing faces (there are great tutorials on YouTube, see link below) and plan on working on learning how to draw human anatomy more accurately. It will take time and lots of practice but I will approach it with patience, appreciation, and perseverance.

@JonoDry

Follow me here or on Twitter @NancyMuesDesign or let’s connect on Linkedin or Facebook! Share your thoughts or your own experiences here in the comment section.

And remember, express yourself in any way that brings you joy and relief and share it with the world. You don’t owe it to anyone but yourself. Stay happy, healthy, safe, and happy graphics, my friend.

Graphic Design (verb): the ultimate trust enhancers, content simplifiers and organizers, efficient and effective information communicators, emotion evokers, and cognition captivators.