I Wish I Could Draw.

Having not drawn anything for two and a half years I found drawing difficult. It was also very tiring and wasn’t coming naturally. When I was a child, I had how to draw books. I had books on how to draw and paint trees. I am still drawing them. I also had a book on how to draw horses. My favourite book was at my grandparents’ house.

I still have this book, “I Wish I could Draw:” A System of Art Teaching by Natural Methods by Percy V. Bradshaw, published in 1941. Bradshaw was a cartoonist who founded his own art correspondence course, The Press Art School. I remember using it to try and draw an apple. I realised that many of the visual images in this book have returned in different artworks over the years. I also used to copy from images in bird books as I was obsessed with birds. I am still drawing birds.

These days the internet is full of how to draw posts and videos. They seem to be some of the most popular posts and blogs. The problem is, I do not really know how I draw. I often get to a point when I am drawing where I want to give up. The drawing bears no resemblance to the item I am drawing from. If I persevere, usually after smudging the drawing with my finger, I suddenly reach the point where the drawing resembles something.

Sometimes my drawings evolve organically as with the drawing below. It slowly builds up into an image. These are my best drawings; they feel as though they have drawn themselves. I have often heard this referred to as flow but for me it is a state of waking dreaming. A meditative state in which there is no obvious thinking process. It is as though some other part of oneself takes over and draws for you. I do not always enter this state of mind, and then drawing is a struggle. It’s more about patience, perseverance and a lot of time.

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