Often a beginner will ask me what should I draw? How would I know is my answer. How would I know what you feel, what moves you, what you wish to express? If you were writing poetry, would you ask me what you should write? The answer is in you but you must allow it to come through.
All of us have visions of what we would like to draw or paint. Vague ideas perhaps, but promptly squashed by a litany of negative thoughts, I could never draw this, it is too difficult, it will look stupid, no one ever loved me, I could not draw a stick figure to save my life, etc⦠Perhaps I should draw something easy. Do you have something I can look at? For example you think of drawing a foot. Now surely it will look silly, it is too complicated and what will people think?
They will ask questions, it will be embarrassing. They will think that you have a foot fetish. Yet, that image that came to you unannounced and for no apparent reason is what I can not teach you and what you must encourage. You will acquire techniques if you study long enough, but what you have to say is what will move me. Draw the first thing that comes to mind without judging it.
You must start somewhere and I promise you that your fifth try will be five times better than the first. Thinking is your enemy. It will tell you that you are small and without talent. When I start a painting, I decide that it will be beautiful. You can not create beauty if you decide in advance that it will not be very good.
When you are sketching this way, drawing whatever you intuition suggests, you are creating, that is doing something no one in the world has ever done. True, your first sketch may not be that great but neither were my first sketches. But one could see that I had compelling and originals ideas to express. With time, my skills and confidence increased and my art became better.
